UL's Baylie Scott from the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) unveils NERIS, the new national fire data system set to replace the 50-year-old NFIRS. Discover how this modern, location-based platform will revolutionize the way fire departments report and use data—from tracking emerging hazards like EV fires to empowering chiefs with the evidence they need to justify resources and save lives.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The End of an Era: Why the legacy NFIRS system is being sunsetted.
• Welcome to NERIS: The key features of the new National Emergency Response Information System.
• The Power of Where: How adding a geographic backbone to every incident report changes the game.
• Plain Language, Faster Data: Making reporting easier for firefighters and making data available in near real-time.
• Tracking Emerging Hazards: How NERIS is built to adapt to new threats like lithium-ion battery fires.
• Proactive vs. Reactive: The importance of the new Community Risk Reduction (CRR) module for capturing prevention efforts.
• From Data to Decisions: How better data empowers fire chiefs when they face city council.
• Lessons from Gatlinburg: How a real-world WUI disaster proved the value of geospatial data analysis.

Patrick Wright, Director of California's Wildfire and Resilience Task Force, explains the monumental one-million-acre-per-year mission to make the state's forests and communities more resilient to megafires. Discover the dual strategies for Northern and Southern California, the critical role of prescribed "good fire," and how the task force is breaking down decades-old silos between federal, state, and local agencies to tackle the problem at scale.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The Million-Acre Goal: The massive scale of California's forest health initiative.
• Two Californias, Two Strategies: Why NorCal needs thinning and prescribed fire, while SoCal needs ignition prevention.
• Breaking Down Silos: How the Task Force acts as the "glue" to align dozens of agencies that once worked independently.
• The Power of "Good Fire": Why prescribed burns, cultural burns, and managed natural fires are essential tools.
• Data-Driven Decisions: How new interagency tracking systems and regional data kits are empowering local communities.
• The Big Three Barriers: The ongoing challenges of securing sustained funding, building a workforce, and creating markets for biomass.
• Smoke as a Motivator: How urban smoke exposure has become a major driver for political and public support.
• The Long Game: Why it took a century to create this problem and will take decades of sustained effort to fix it.