Report Remarks — Telling the Story

This NFIRSGram explains the value of using the Remarks field (Section L of the Basic Module) and how to enter quality content that benefits your fire department.

The Remarks or narrative field in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) report is the only place the reporting department can document, in its own words, what events might have led up to, transpired during or occurred after the incident.

Although this field is not required, it allows the reporting department to “paint a picture” of the incident by providing further details that can be beneficial for training and incident investigations.

What to include in the Remarks field

Departments can use the Remarks field to describe what happened, including fire department operations, conditions encountered or other details about the incident. This information is in addition to the codes used throughout the NFIRS report. It is important to note that the Remarks field should not be used in place of a properly coded report.

Your Remarks narrative should also match what you documented in the rest of the report. For example, if you indicate that a fire started in a trash can inside a home, ensure that the Area of Fire Origin in Section D of the Fire Module is not listed as “unknown.”

The Remarks field is an extension of the incident, so include what your department was told upon dispatch, what actions your department performed during the incident and the effect they had on incident stabilization. This is also the area to record other specific details important to the incident that are not recorded in other fields of the report.

Tips for telling the story

• Answer the following questions: who, what, when, where, why and how?
• Write your remarks in plain language.
• Avoid the use of acronyms and technical terminology so that a non-firefighter or someone who was not on scene can read your report and understand what happened at the incident.
• Be clear, concise and “paint the picture!”

Recommended reading

Refer to previous NFIRSGrams for recommended reporting formats related to incident-specific scenarios, such as incidents involving hoverboards or e-cigarettes.

Adding computer-aided dispatch comments

Depending on your software, the Remarks field can be automatically filled in with computer-aided dispatch comments. It is important to check the Remarks field to ensure that the appropriate information is correctly recorded and edited.

Remarks as legal documentation

Documentation contained within the Remarks field can serve as a legal document, aiding investigators months or even years later. For example, if asked about the number of cars in the burned garage, or if people were bystanders when you arrived, can you provide an answer?

Printing the Remarks section

The Forms Based Incident Report includes only the first page of the Remarks section. If printing a report containing a long Remarks section, the user should copy the Remarks text to a word processing application to print separately.