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Tagging the Tennessee Division of Forestry as an Aid Partner

NERIS now lists the Tennessee Division of Forestry as a department that Tennessee fire departments can tag as an aid partner. Before this, there was no clean way to show on a NERIS report that Forestry worked a brush or woods fire with you: it isn't a fire department, and none of the non-FD agency categories fit. Now you record it the same way you record aid from a neighboring department.

This guide covers when to tag Forestry, how to do it on the incident form, and how to make it show up first in your partner list.

When to Tag Forestry

Add a mutual aid entry for the Division of Forestry whenever Forestry personnel or equipment took part in an incident you are reporting. The common cases:

  • Forestry helped you on a wildland, brush, or grass fire in your district (dozer line, hand crews, air support, or a ranger on scene).
  • You helped Forestry on a fire they were managing, whether in your district or outside it.

If Forestry was notified but never responded or sent resources, there is nothing to record.

Recording It on the Incident

  1. Open the incident and go to the Details tab.
  2. Expand Mutual Aid and add a new entry.
  3. In the Department field, search for Tennessee Division of Forestry and select it. It appears in the same search as every other department.
  4. Set Aid Type. Support Aid is right for nearly every Forestry call: Forestry brought resources alongside yours, or you brought resources alongside theirs.
  5. Set Direction: They provided aid to us when Forestry came to your fire, or We provided aid to them when you went to theirs.

Save the incident and continue the normal review and submission workflow. The aid entry is included in what goes to NERIS.

Note: Use the Mutual Aid section for Forestry, not Non-FD Agency Aid. The non-FD list is for agencies like law enforcement, EMS, and utilities, and it has no forestry option. The Division of Forestry is set up in NERIS as a department, so it belongs with your department-to-department aid entries.

Put Forestry at the Top of Your Partner List

If your department works with Forestry regularly, add it as an aid agreement so it shows up in the Aid agreements group at the top of the partner search instead of buried in name results:

  1. Go to Settings > NERIS.
  2. Under Aid Agreements, search for Tennessee Division of Forestry and add it with the agreement type that matches your arrangement. Mutual is the usual choice.

The next time anyone adds a mutual aid entry, Forestry is one click away.

Incidents You Already Reported

Incidents you submitted before Forestry was available in NERIS can be corrected. An admin unlocks the incident, the responding crew adds the mutual aid entry, and the incident goes back through review and resubmission. See Incident Review Workflow for the correction process.

Whether it is worth going back depends on how you use the data. If you report wildland aid to your county or to the state, or you want a full picture of how often Forestry supports your district, it is worth adding. If not, tagging correctly from here forward is enough.

What to Expect From Forestry's Side

The Division of Forestry entry in NERIS exists only so that fire departments can tag it. Forestry does not file its own incident reports through NERIS and will not tag your department as the jurisdiction of record, so nothing from Forestry will show up when you sync mutual aid incidents. Your report is the only record of the response, which is one more reason to tag it accurately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this apply to fire departments outside Tennessee? Not yet. The Tennessee Division of Forestry is the first state forestry agency to be added as an aid-tagging option in NERIS. If your state adds one, it will appear in the same department search with no setup on your end.

Should I still describe Forestry's involvement in the narrative? Yes. The aid entry records that Forestry took part; the narrative is where you record what they did, such as how much line the dozer cut or how long a crew stayed on scene.

Forestry brought the only equipment and my department just watched the road. Is that still Support Aid? Yes. Support Aid means an outside department responded alongside yours. Which agency did more of the work doesn't change the aid type.