Setting Up a Fire Department

This recipe covers volunteer, combination and career fire departments — from a single-station volunteer company to a multi-battalion career department. Differences between the two ends are called out as you go.

What you will end up with

• Calls arriving from your dispatch centre (email or SMS page) or created by your own dispatcher, alerting the right stations, roles and units by push, SMS, email and voice.
• Live status of every member and apparatus on the dashboard, the Big Board and the apps.
• Run cards that fill the assignment automatically.
• Daily apparatus and SCBA checks, with failures turning into work orders.
• Run, training and work records with NERIS incident reports (US).
• Hydrants, occupancies, inspections and permits if you run prevention.

1 — Department settings

Setting	Value
Time zone / 24-hour time	Your zone; most fire departments use 24-hour time.
Department address	Station 1 or the administration office.
Default map centre	The middle of your first-due area.
Staffing reset	Volunteer: On, daily 06:00 → Available (clears forgotten Unavailable flags). Career: off.
Modern notification sounds	On.
Modules	All on except Maintenance until you have Readiness Pro.

2 — Types

Type	Values
Unit types	Engine, Ladder / Truck, Rescue, Tender / Tanker, Brush, Command, Utility, Ambulance (if you run EMS).
Call types	Structure fire, Vehicle fire, Brush / wildland fire, Fire alarm, MVA, MVA with entrapment, Medical, Hazmat, Gas leak, Water rescue, Public assist, Mutual aid, Standby.
Call priorities	Low (routine, no sound at night), Medium, High, Emergency (full alert, overrides quiet hours). Keep the four defaults and set colours.
Certification types	Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Driver/Operator, Fire Officer I, EMT, EMR, Hazmat Ops, CPR.
Document categories	SOG/SOP, Bylaws, Apparatus manuals, Training, Forms.
Note categories	Standing orders, Road closures, Hydrants OOS, Minutes.

3 — Groups & stations

• One Station group per firehouse with the street address; draw the geofence for its first-due area.
• Multi-station: an Organisational group per battalion or district as the parent.
• Make each station's captain a group admin.

4 — Roles

Firefighter, Interior firefighter, Driver/Operator, Officer, Chief officer, EMT/EMR, Support/Fire police, Probationary. Roles are what run cards and dispatch-by-role use — keep them about capability, not rank (ranks are separate).

5 — Custom statuses

Load the Fire template under Custom Statuses and trim:

• Personnel: Standing by · Responding to station · Responding to scene · On scene · Available at station · Not responding · Off duty.
• Staffing: Available · Unavailable · On call · On shift.
• Units (Engine/Ladder/Rescue/Tender/Brush): In quarters · Responding · On scene · Available · Returning · Out of service.

6 — Units

Create every apparatus with its type and station, and add unit roles — Engine: Driver, Officer, Firefighter ×2 (mark Driver and Officer required). Utility and command vehicles: a single Officer/Driver role.

7 — Personnel

Use Department Settings → Invites to invite everyone by email. Ask members to:

1. Install Responder, sign in, verify email and mobile number.
2. Set notification preferences (push for calls; SMS as backup).
3. Fill in their home address (ETA and closest-member logic).

Assign roles and stations; enter certifications with expiry dates.

8 — Security & permissions

Permission	Volunteer	Career
Create calls	Admins + Officers	Admins + Dispatcher role
Close / delete calls	Officers / Dept admins	Dispatcher / Dept admins
View personal info	Everyone	Admins + Officers
Create shifts	Dept admins	Dept admins
Manage checklists / work orders	Admins + Apparatus officer role	Same
2FA for admins	Dept admins	All admins

9 — Dispatch

• Call import: forward CAD pages to the dispatch import email; choose the matching email format (Active911, IAmResponding, county-specific formats, or Generic).
• Text messaging: provision a number if members will text responding / available.
• Dispatch settings: Also dispatch to entire group on unit dispatch (volunteer); Use shift for group dispatch (career); default statuses dispatched → Responding, released → Available.
• Run cards (Dispatch.RunCards): Structure fire (High + Structure fire): L1 Engine ×2, Ladder ×1, Rescue ×1, Chief officer ×1; L2 adds Engine ×1, Tender ×1. Brush fire: Brush ×2, Engine ×1. Medical: Rescue ×1 + EMT ×2. Station-based mode; auto-dispatch off for volunteers until confident, on for career.
• Check-in timers: PAR 20 min on Structure fire; Rehab 45 min.
• Protocols: structure-fire and gas-leak protocols with questions and attachments.

10 — Readiness: checklists, work orders, inventory

• Checklists (free): from templates — Fire apparatus daily (Unit, each shift or daily 07:00, window 120 min, critical items brakes/lights/pump), Fire apparatus weekly, SCBA weekly (Serialized equipment, witness required), Station facility monthly.
• Work orders (Readiness Pro): enable Maintenance; preventive schedules per apparatus (annual pump test, ladder test, oil change every 250 hours by meter); Create a work order on failure on the daily checklist; operations policy with a $500 approval threshold.
• Inventory: SCBA packs, cylinders, TICs, radios and gas meters as serialized assets; foam, absorbent, medical supplies as bulk with reorder points; turnout gear kits issued to members.

11 — Records

• Enable Records.System and activate. Locked types cover Run, Training, Work, Meeting. Preset: Quick entry for volunteers, Review required for career (officer reviews).
• NERIS (US): enter entity ID and credentials, map every call type in the crosswalk, auto-submit after the first few are checked.
• Prevention: hydrants (import from the water utility), occupancies for target hazards, inspection programs if you have a bureau, permits (burn, fireworks), CRR activities for accreditation.
• Analytics: set turnout target 80 s and travel target 240 s (NFPA 1710) or your standard of cover.

12 — Communication and engagement

• Shifts: signup duty crew shifts (volunteer) or assigned platoon shifts (career).
• Calendar: trainings with RSVP; business meetings.
• Trainings: annual refreshers with quizzes.
• Notifications: Driver/Operator available < 2 → officers; Unit out of service → chief.
• Workflows: High/Emergency call → email chief + Discord; Certification expiring → member + training officer.
• Communication tests: monthly all-call page test.
• Chat: department and station channels; incident channels are automatic.

First-week checklist

• Every member verified email + mobile and installed Responder
• Every apparatus created with roles; Unit app on each tablet
• A test call dispatched to a test group and received on all channels
• Run card test/simulate matches expectations
• Daily apparatus checklist scheduled and running
• Records activated; one Run record finalized end-to-end
• Security permissions reviewed; 2FA on for admins