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Volume 22 — Issue 8 | February 24, 2022 |
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The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is a voluntary reporting standard and data collection tool that fire departments use to uniformly report on the full range of their activities, including fires, emergency medical services calls, severe weather and natural disasters. Housed by the United States Fire Administration (USFA), NFIRS is the largest national database of fire incident information, including data from over 24 thousand fire departments reporting on over 28 million incidents annually.
Having this much data about fire incident information across the United States is a powerful decision-making tool for the fire service.
Data about each incident is entered into NFIRS using standardized codes for data collection, which are then used in analysis and reporting on the data. For example, one could generate an NFIRS report on national dollar losses from certain types of incidents, number of calls by incident type within a time frame, or number of exposures to a chemical during hazardous materials incidents, just to list a few.
Some training is required for fire departments to use NFIRS. The USFA is hosting daily training webinars during NFIRS Week, from March 14 through 18, to help fire departments learn more about the benefits of using NFIRS, how to report incidents, how to run reports, and more. Webinar dates and topics are:
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Monday, March 14, from 1-2 p.m. EST: Account Management.
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Tuesday, March 15, from 1-2 p.m. EST: Import File Processing: Getting Your Data into the System.
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Wednesday, Feb. 16, from 1-2 p.m. EST: Common Critical Errors and How to Address Them.
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Thursday, Feb. 17, from 1-2 p.m. EST: Data Warehouse Reports: Running Reports, Assistance to Firefighters Grants, and Dashboard Show-and-Tell.
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Friday, Feb. 18, from 1-3 p.m. EST: Guest Speakers: The Benefits of NFIRS.
These webinars are available to NFIRS state program managers and their invitees. If you or someone in your agency is interested in attending, contact your NFIRS state program manager.
Visit the USFA’s website to learn more about how NFIRS data is being used to benefit the fire service, through special studies like the NFIRS COVID-19 Special Study; and through continually updated guidance, such as the NFIRSGram on how to code an incident involving an electric or hybrid vehicle fire. You can also check out the Feb. 17 episode of the USFA’s new podcast series, which discusses NFIRS and its benefits.
(Source: USFA)
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One of the most frequent conditions encountered by emergency medical services (EMS) professionals in the field is pain. EMS practitioners regularly treat pain within a standard of care defined for the prehospital setting; however, there is evidence that prehospital treatment of pain is often inconsistent or inadequate. This evidence, compounded by the national opioid crisis, has fueled an urgent need to develop new evidence-based recommendations on the prehospital use of pain medications.
Last month, the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) announced a new publication in the journal Prehospital Emergency Care: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Prehospital Pain Management: Recommendations. These Evidence-Based Guidelines (EBGs) recommend methods for prehospital administration of many analgesics commonly used to treat pain, including fentanyl and other opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, and ketamine. A companion publication, Evidence-Based Guidelines for Prehospital Pain Management: Literature and Methods, explains the literature reviewed and methods used to create the recommendations.
To support the implementation of the new evidence-based guidelines, NASEMSO and partners produced some related guidance and training:
The guidelines and related training materials will help ensure safe, effective, and equitable people-centered care, consistent with EMS Agenda 2050. To learn more about this project, and to view the new guidelines and all supporting documents, visit NASEMSO’s website.
The National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE) will offer a webinar on the pain management guidelines on March 9, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. EST. The presentation is designed for EMS educators, prehospital clinicians, EMS medical directors and anyone with an interest in addressing acute pain of patients in the prehospital setting. Pediatric pain management will be covered, as well as a person-centered approach to pain management and shared decision-making with patients.
You can access other prehospital EBGs and learn more about how guidelines like these are developed on EMS.gov.
(Source: NASEMSO)
The National 911 Program has just released its Annual Report with findings and analysis of states’ 911 data from the 2020 calendar year. The data collected helps to characterize a state’s 911 operations, protocols and progress toward Next Generation 911 (NG911) implementation.
In addition to the written report, an interactive map of the 2020 data is also available on 911.gov.
Notable findings of this year’s report include:
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Significant Participation: Forty-eight states and territories shared key data for 2020 operations and activities.
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U.S. DOD PSAP Data: For the first time, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) shared that the number of stateside public safety answering points (PSAPs) is currently 220 and an additional 43 PSAPs operate overseas in 21 U.S. territories and countries.
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NG911 Planning: Of reporting states, 73% said they have adopted a statewide NG911 plan – an increase from 69% in the 2019 data – and 11 states have geocoded 100% of their address data.
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Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD): Forty-one states reported 2,519 PSAPs that provide EMD, up from 2,472 PSAPs in 37 states in 2019.
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ESInet Usage: Nine states reported 100% of their PSAPs are connected to ESInets, up from six states in 2019. ESInets are “emergency services Internet Protocol-based networks,” which can take advantage of broadband internet capabilities to transmit voice data along with large amounts of other data, such as cell phone photos or even live video feeds of an unfolding incident when a caller contacts a PSAP.
For more information the National 911 Annual Report and to view previous years’ reports, visit the National 911 Program’s website at 911.gov or email nhtsa.national911@dot.gov.
(Source: National 911 Program)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is accepting requests for exercise support through the National Exercise Program. State, local, tribal and territorial partners can request no-cost assistance for exercise design, development, conduct and evaluation to validate capabilities across all mission areas.
FEMA is hosting webinars for all interested government and other community partners on the exercise support process.
Visit the webinar page to register. Upcoming webinar dates are:
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2 p.m. EST on March 1.
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2 p.m. EST on March 3.
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2 p.m. EST on March 8.
Spring 2022 requests for support are due no later than April 1. To submit a request for exercise support, download the support request form and email the completed form with supporting documentation to NEP@fema.dhs.gov. Awardees will be notified by May 6. FEMA will hold additional exercise support rounds in fall 2022 and spring 2023.
For questions, contact FEMA at NEP@fema.dhs.gov.
(Source: FEMA)
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CISA: Free cybersecurity services and tools
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published the Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools webpage intended to be a one-stop resource where organizations of all sizes can find free public and private sector resources to reduce their cybersecurity risk. The catalog published today is a starting point. Going forward, CISA will incorporate other free services into the catalog.
The list is organized to align with CISA’s recent advisory, Implement Cybersecurity Measures Now to Protect Against Potential Critical Threats.
It is imperative that the public and private sector collectively work together to promote basic cybersecurity practices and help organizations of all sizes reduce their cybersecurity risk. In addition to the services and tools offered in this new resource, CISA also provides certain measures that should be taken to establish a foundational cybersecurity program such as:
For more information, visit the Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools webpage .
(Source: CISA)
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NCSC-NZ releases advisory on cyber threats related to Russia-Ukraine tensions
The New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ) has released a General Security Advisory (GSA) on preparing for cyber threats relating to tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The advisory recommends organizations review their security posture and monitor for cyber incidents and provides additional resources to help protect against potential threats.
CISA encourages all users to review GSA: Understanding and Preparing for Cyber Threats Relating to Tensions Between Russia and Ukraine and consider the recommendations.
(Source: CISA)
New Sandworm Malware Cyclops Blink replaces VPNFilter
The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre, CISA, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) reporting that the malicious cyber actor known as Sandworm or Voodoo Bear is using new malware, referred to as Cyclops Blink. Cyclops Blink appears to be a replacement framework for the VPNFilter malware exposed in 2018, which exploited network devices, primarily small office/home office routers and network-attached storage devices.
CISA encourages users and administrators to review joint CSA: New Sandworm Malware Cyclops Blink Replaces VPNFilter for additional technical details and mitigations.
(Source: CISA)
NIST issues final guidance on RPM, telehealth security
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), which is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released final guidance on remote patient monitoring (RPM) and telehealth security.
Although telehealth technology is not new, COVID-19 pushed many healthcare organizations toward telehealth and RPM solutions. As adoption increased, the likelihood of cyberattacks targeted at telehealth and RPM services also rose. Healthcare organizations must consider security and privacy risks to protect sensitive data.
The publication is aimed at healthcare professionals who are implementing RPM ecosystems using third-party telehealth platform providers. Since the telehealth platform provider manages devices and collects biometric data, the guide stressed the criticality of third-party risk assessments and proper security controls.
NCCoE also recommended that these data security controls align with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and the NIST Privacy Framework.
(Source: Health IT Security)
New York opens joint cybersecurity center to serve state and city needs
Speaking from the Brooklyn facility, the Governor of New York said the new Joint Security Operations Center is designed to give New York’s hundreds of municipalities more assistance in defending themselves from criminal threats like ransomware and potential activity by foreign government-backed actors.
The Governor said the new cybersecurity center will also serve the private sector and state’s critical infrastructure operators, including the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the New York Power Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Its 117 desks will be staffed primarily by employees of New York City Cyber Command, along with federal and state officials as well as representatives from city and county governments from around the rest of the Empire State.
Additionally, an executive order was signed Tuesday requiring all municipal agencies to appoint a “cyber liaison” to work with New York City Cyber Command.
(Source: StateScoop)
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The InfoGram is distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. |
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Fair Use Notice:
This InfoGram may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The EMR-ISAC believes this constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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