The fire PCR contains dozens and dozens of value-pickers. You can add your own custom choices to them, using "plus one" codes.
Base Codes
The NFIRS specification provides lists of "base codes" that represent various choices. For example, in the "Incident Type" field, 111 is a base code that means "Building fire", while 143 is "Grass fire".
There is a list of base codes for nearly every field in an NFIRS report: injury types, equipment types, ignition causes, vehicle types, and so on.
Plus-One Codes
A "plus one" code means an extra digit tacked-on to a base code.
For example, base code 111 means a "Building fire", and so a plus-one code 1111 (111+1) might mean "Building fire in an urban high-rise", while plus-one code 1112 (111+2) could mean "Building fire in a national historic register location". Both 1111 and 1112 still count as 111 ("Building fire") and are subject to all normal validation rules for 111, yet you have the ability to differentiate between them.
Adding a Plus-One Code
You can add plus-one codes to any of the 115 different values-tables used within AngelTrack's fire report forms:
- Under the Settings page find the "Plus-One Codes" item. You must have Captain or Administrator privileges to use it.
- Use the dropdown-list to find the values-table to which you would like to add a code.
- In the table of codes, find the base code that you wish to extend. In other words, find the built-in code that is nearest in meaning to the new choice you intend to add. Base codes in AngelTrack all end with a dash or a zero, for example, base code 111 appears as "111-".
- Click the add icon
to display the add-code popover. - Fill out the form and click save when done. The new code will appear in the table.
The new code will not immediately appear in AngelTrack's fire report forms, due to caching; it may take up to one hour to appear.
Be careful choosing the correct code to extend!
Your plus-one codes are extensions of the base code that you picked, and so they all count the same as that base code during data validation... regardless of what you name them!
For example, if you extend Actions Taken base code 51 "Ventilate" with a plus-one code 511, it doesn't matter whether you name it "Ventilate by breaking windows and walls", or "Ventilate by opening doors", or something completely different... your plus-one code 511 still counts as a 51 for the purposes of data validation. Furthermore, AngelTrack will still report it to the state fire database as a 51 "Ventilate". Therefore one must never create a plus-one code that has a totally different meaning than its base code.
Modifying a Plus-One Code
Altering an existing plus-one code is easy:
- Under the Settings page find the "Plus-One Codes" item. You must have Captain or Administrator privileges to use it.
- Use the dropdown-list to find the values-table to which the code belongs.
- Find the plus-one code in the table and click its "Edit" button.
- Save when finished.
Be careful changing the meaning of a plus-one code, because that will retroactively change the meaning of older data already recorded against the code.
Deleting a Plus-One Code
You cannot delete plus-one codes once entered into AngelTrack, so carefully consider each use-case before creating codes for it.
If you absolutely must delete a plus-one code, contact AngelTrack technical support.
Not Reported to the State Fire Database
While the NFIRS spec allows plus-one codes to be sent to a state fire database, AngelTrack does not. Instead it strips them off, sending only the base codes, because not all state fire databases can gracefully accept plus-one codes.
Caching
Your lists of plus-one codes in AngelTrack are cached, and so any changes you make to your codes will take up to one hour to appear in the fire report UI.