Questions chiefs ask.
If your question is not here, send a note from the button at the bottom of the page.
The short version.
We draft a pre-plan for every building in your first due, and your officers check the ones we flag. Your department owns them.
What does it cost?
Half of one percent of one year's spending, from your public IRS filing, between $250 and $5,000. With no filing on record, we use the typical spending for a first due your size. Year one is a setup fee that builds every card and includes the monthly checks: pay in full, or in 12 equal monthly payments for the same total if it is not in this year's budget. Each year after: $120 a year, one payment. A department referred by another pays half the setup fee.
How much officer time does it take?
Your officers tell us your SOGs once: how your department runs a call, like your rigs, run cards, water supply and mutual aid. It saves as you go, so an officer can do a few questions after drill and come back to the rest. Then they look only at the cards a check flags, plus a sample from each response area, and the chief signs off. We draft every card, so nobody starts from a blank page.
We already have pre-plans.
Keep them, and send them to us in any shape: PDF, photo or spreadsheet. We use them to fill in the cards. Most departments have plans for the big buildings. We add every other address, homes included, and work the water for each one.
What if your data is wrong?
Some of it will be, and the card says so. Every value shows if it is estimated and the month its list is from, and gets a flag when the list is more than 2 years old. Your officers fix it in setup, and no card is final until the chief signs off.
Who sees our data?
Your department owns its answers and files. Your members see your cards, and your mutual aid neighbors see your answers only if you turn on sharing. We use your setup answers to build and keep your cards, to make FirePreplans better, and combined with no names on them, like the average tanker size in a state. We never sell your department's own data, and we never publish your answers with your name on them. Owner notes and your crew's card checks are used only to run your cards.
Do we need new software or tablets?
No. Cards open in the web browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and they stay up to date every month. You can still print them: a book for a rig or single pages, any time.
Does it work with our 911 center?
Every card has a short alert line in plain text, short enough to ride along with the dispatch. Your 911 center can also take the full export: PDF, spreadsheet and map files.
What does the board need to decide?
Whether to join, and whether to pay setup in full or monthly. The board packet has your numbers, how it works in four steps, what your officers do, the cost and terms, and a motion your secretary can read into the minutes.
What happens after year one?
The monthly checks you had from day one keep going. Every month we recheck the lists your cards come from, update the cards that changed, rerun the checks and send the chief a short note saying what changed. The note goes out even when nothing changed. That is what the subscription pays for.
What if we stop?
You keep everything you downloaded, plus a full export on your last day. The cards freeze at the last update and stay online read only for 90 days. Come back within a year and you pay the subscription only.
Where do the starting numbers come from?
Public records: building records, road maps, state licensing lists, school lists, flood maps, and hydrant maps where a county or water company publishes them. Every value on a card shows the month its list is from.
Who builds this?
Volunteer firefighters. We run calls too, and we built the tool we wanted for our own company.