More Than a Number: The Hidden Value of Incident Tagging

Overview: Incident reports are more than just data for the state; they are the building blocks of your department's history. Tagging helps you tell that story.

Beyond Compliance: Reports as Stories

What if your incident reports could do more than NERIS / NFIRS? What if they could become an archive of your department’s history, a tool for building culture, and a source of engaging content for your community? This is where a simple but powerful feature comes in: incident tagging.

What is Incident Tagging?

Incident tagging is the practice of adding descriptive labels or keywords to your incident reports, separate from the formal coding required for NERIS. These tags are for your department’s internal use, allowing you to categorize incident in ways that are meaningful to your department. The possibilities are limited only by your creativity, and needs.

Tagging allows you to add context and color to your department’s data.

Building Culture and Preserving History

A fire department’s culture is built on shared experiences. Tagging helps you capture and recall those moments.

Consider creating a tag like memorable. This could be applied to a wide range of calls:

The time you successfully rescued a dog from a frozen pond for a grateful family.
The complicated extrication that required perfect teamwork.
A funny or unusual situation that the crew still talks about.

Over time, these tagged incidents become a searchable highlight reel of your department’s service. Imagine a fire chief preparing a retirement address for a 30-year veteran. A quick search for incidents tagged memorable that the firefighter attended could provide a wealth of powerful, personal stories to share.

Similarly, tagged incidents are perfect for:

End-of-year banquets: Create a slideshow of the year’s most “memorable” or “impactful” calls.
Community newsletters: Share a story about a recent community-assist incident to show the human side of your department.
Annual reports: Go beyond statistics and include compelling narratives from tagged events.

A Tool for Every Officer

The value of tagging extends across all leadership roles within the department. Different officers can use tags to track trends and gather data relevant to their responsibilities.

Training Officers: A training-opportunity tag can be used to mark incidents that presented unique learning experiences. These can be reviewed later in a group setting to discuss what went right and what could be improved. Was it a tricky hazmat-spill or a complex-mva? Tag it for future training scenarios.
Safety Officers: Incidents involving near-misses or safety concerns could be tagged safety-review. This creates an invaluable dataset for identifying trends, improving SOPs, and ensuring every member goes home safe.
Apparatus Officers: Tag incidents where a specific tool or piece of apparatus was critical (jaws-of-life-win) or where equipment malfunctioned (equipment-issue). This data can justify budget requests for new tools or highlight maintenance needs.

Getting Started with Tagging

The best way to start is to keep it simple.

Brainstorm: Gather your officers and brainstorm a handful of useful tags. Don’t overcomplicate it.
Communicate: Explain the “why” behind the tags to your members. When they understand the goal—whether it’s for training, recognition, or reporting—they’ll be more likely to use them.
Be Consistent: Encourage officers in charge of reports to add relevant tags as part of their process.
Less if More Start with fewer tags, and only add them when needed. Using a few beats being lost in a lot.

By embracing creative incident tagging, you transform a simple administrative requirement into a dynamic tool. You start building a richer, more detailed account of your service—one that strengthens your culture, engages your members, and preserves the legacy of your department for years to come.

"If nothing else, tagging `memorable` would improve the anecdotes at retirement parties. :-) "