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2025 Annual Conference: State Fire Marshal

Friday, October 17th, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm 

State Fire Marshal: Your Department is Upgrading to NERIS
Craig Milani, Minnesota State Fire Marshal Fire Data Administrator; Angela Contreras, Minnesota State Fire Marshal Data and Education Supervisor; Craig Weinschenk, Fire Safety Research Institute Principal Investigator; Joel Paylor, Minnesota State Fire Marshal Fire Incident Reporting Program Manager

Session Description

Where did the ‘111 – Building Fire’ or ‘300 – Rescue, EMS, Other’ incident type go? Who deleted the ‘419 – 1 or 2 family dwelling’ property use type we’ve chosen for the past 40 years? I still can’t remember my FDID; why are we changing to a NERISID?

The Minnesota State Fire Marshal division along with Craig Weinschenk, principal investigator from the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) on the development of the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), will be discussing the final months of NFIRS, the rollout of NERIS, and what your fire department should know. Learn how the fire incident report has changed, get hands on experience with the new modules within NERIS, and walk through scenarios to ensure you have understood the fire incident reporting changes and expectations.

Fire service leaders and administrative staff who work with their agency’s fire incident reporting system are encouraged to attend this session. Tablets or laptops are encouraged, but not required to attend.

Craig Milani, State Fire Data Administrator, Minnesota State Fire Marshal division

Craig Milani is the State Fire Data Administrator within the Data and Education Team in the State Fire Marshal (SFM) division. His responsibilities include: manage and lead technology initiatives within the SFM division; administer and deliver training for the fire service in Minnesota on the statewide fire records management system; and research and analyze fire data to help identify fire impacts and risk reduction strategies.

Craig’s career in business and the public safety sector over the past 20+ years has intersected between higher education campus safety & security, emergency management, information technology, facilities management, firefighting, and being a nationally registered emergency medical technician.

Craig is currently the NERIS implementation project lead for the State of Minnesota. 

Angela Contreras, Data and Education Supervisor, Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division

Angela Contreras is the Data and Education Supervisor at the Minnesota State Fire Marshal division. With over 16 years of experience in public safety, she specializes in training and data driven program management. She is a nationally registered paramedic and has held previous roles in emergency medical services, pipeline emergency preparedness, radiological emergency preparedness, and statewide emergency management training.


Craig Weinschenk, Director of Research, Fire Safety Research Institute

Craig, a Director of Research with the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas-Austin. 

Since joining FSRI, Craig has been conducting research in the fields of firefighter safety, fire forensics, fire science, and data analytics. His focus is on characterizing the impact of firefighter tactics on the thermal and toxic environment within structures. Other research interests include community-scale fire-risk modeling, verification and validation of fire models, the impact of ventilation on fire damage, and material property data. Craig is currently the principal investigator for the development of NERIS.


Joel Paylor, Fire Incident Reporting Program Manager, Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division

Joel Paylor is the program manager overseeing fire incident reporting (NFIRS/NERIS) at the State Fire Marshal Division. With extensive experience in managing statewide fire incident data—from collection and vetting to analysis—Joel assists the SFM Data and Education Team in producing timely insights and annual reports to support fire prevention efforts across more than 700 departments.  Joel’s work bridges data analytics, field training, and inter-agency collaboration to drive fire safety and preparedness throughout Minnesota.