Contact

GlossaryResponse performance and resources

Move-up

A move-up relocates a response unit to maintain coverage while other resources are committed or unavailable.

A move-up is the relocation of a response resource to help maintain coverage while other resources are committed or unavailable. A crew might move to another station or designated standby location so it can serve an area with reduced nearby capacity. The relocation itself is not necessarily a response to a new emergency.

USFA's historical NFIRS aid guidance discusses cover and fill-in assignments and includes a station standby or move-up example. Its coding treatment is specific to NFIRS, but the example explains the operational purpose: maintaining service while another department cannot respond. USFA aid guidance, June 2023

What changes during a move-up

The resource's location changes, while its employing agency and regular assignment may remain the same. A move-up can occur within one department or involve a neighboring organization under an assistance arrangement.

The move should be distinguished from any subsequent emergency response. A unit can relocate, wait without receiving a call, and return. Alternatively, it can receive a new incident assignment from the temporary position. Those are separate activities in a detailed dispatch history.

Example

Hypothetical: Two engines from the eastern part of a city are committed to a prolonged fire. Dispatch relocates an available engine from another station to an eastern coverage point. Thirty minutes later, that engine responds to a separate alarm nearby.

The record contains a coverage move and a later alarm response. Counting both as separate fires would be incorrect. The move-up explains why the engine started its journey from a place other than its home station.

If it had received no call while covering the area, the relocation would still represent operational activity, even without a new emergency incident.

Common confusion

A move-up is not an additional alarm at the original fire. An additional alarm sends resources to that incident; a coverage move positions resources to serve other demand.

It is also not necessarily a permanent station reassignment or an expansion of the agency's service area. The arrangement may last only until committed resources return.

Every cross-boundary move is not automatically counted as aid received in every reporting system. Historical NFIRS guidance treated some cover assignments differently from assistance by multiple departments at the same scene.

Reading coverage activity

Identify the destination, reason, start and end times, and any later incident assignment. A station-based workload table may attribute the response to the unit's home station even though it departed from the temporary location.

For older data, use the relevant NFIRS rules; for current records, use the local or NERIS documentation. NFIRS was retired for the transition to 2026 NERIS reporting, so its old cover code should not be assumed to remain a current field. USFA transition information

Sources