County official warns: monthly fire‑call reporting required for ‘aid to locality’ payments; NEARIS reporting system to replace NEFERS in September

A county fire official told the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Commission that reporting monthly fire calls is required under a state mandate for receiving aid‑to‑locality (ATL) funds, and that the new NEARIS reporting system will replace NEFERS in the county next month.

The official said, “You have to report your fire calls. Must be done every month. If you don't report your fire calls, then you don't get your ATL money,” and added the county has a board meeting next month to clarify the process.

The official also told the commission that NEARIS, the state’s new incident reporting system, goes into effect in the area in September. “Also, I hope everyone's familiar with NEARIS, the new reporting system. That's gonna take the place of NEFERS. It goes into effect for our area in September,” the official said, and noted agencies using ESO should convert automatically while others will need to migrate.

Why this matters: county and volunteer fire departments rely on ATL funds tied to reported activity; failing to submit required monthly reports can affect those payments, according to the update. The commission did not vote on any policy at the meeting and framed the remarks as an administrative reminder.

The county official said the county is holding a board meeting next month to discuss reporting requirements and to provide additional details about converting to NEARIS. The meeting did not produce detailed technical guidance about the conversion steps for every reporting software; the official instructed departments without ESO to plan to convert to NEARIS before the September effective date.

The commission did not adopt a local ordinance or change funding levels at the meeting; the discussion was presented as administrative guidance and a notice to departments to ensure timely monthly reporting to maintain state aid.