Dear NFIRS Point of Contact and or Assigned Record Custodian,

I hope this note finds you well and with a moment or two to share.

I am interested in accessing public NFIRS records relating to recent structural fires records. I respectfully request your assistance in establishing transparency.

The attached two files were provided to me by the NFIRS Point of Contact person in both Illinois and Missouri. They were able to use existing NFIRS Data Warehouse reporting abilities to easily disclose the public records relating to only structural fires which occurred during a specified date range. Hopefully you can provide the same or similar excel report as they have kindly disclosed.

Following is my public information request for public records currently possessed by your public body relating only to structural fires for which I respectfully request your response as required by state public information laws:

Please disclose the same categories of public records as contained within the two attached sample reports your agency received as part of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) NFIRS 5.0 all-incident reporting system where the dates of the incidents reported by participating agencies range from February 1, 2024 through February 29, 2024. Please limit the records to the “Type of Situation Found” reported by the agencies when the first emergency unit arrived on the scene relates to only structural fires which includes but is not limited to residential, apartment buildings, house, duplex, commercial manufactures fires etc.

To further assist you with your efforts to fulfill this request please be advised Mrs. Nancy Robinson Deputy General Counsel FOIA Officer Office of the State Fire Marshal 1035 Stevenson Dr. Springfield IL 62703 Office: 217-785-7629 Mobile: 217-606-9826 [email address] and Mr. Matt Luetkemeyer Assistant State Fire Marshall Missouri Division of Fire Safety 205 Jefferson St., Suite 1315 PO Box 844 Jefferson City, MO 65102. 573-301-5315 were the NFIRS point of contact record custodians who fulfilled the same written requests. They may be of assistance to you if you are not aware how to produce the same kind of report using the existing NFIRS reporting abilities.

I hope these two sample files sufficiently and adequately describe the category of records I seek to be disclosed. I understand the records are generated on a voluntary basis and some categories may be blank or incomplete but ask that you be sure to disclose the full address where the structural fire occurred. Please send the records to me at [email address].

You can reach me by telephone or email if you have any questions or concerns. My telephone number is 314-497-7707.

Please send your response and requested public NFIRS records relating to recent structural fires to me at [email address].

With Sincere Respect and Appreciation,

Pat Bender
Vincent if you need the sample reports that are mentioned above, please send your email address to me and I'll get the sample reports the MO and IL NFIRS Point of Contacts sent to me in response to this request.