Privacy Policy
Your data, plainly explained.
This policy describes what Fire Respond collects when you use the iOS app, the web portal at firerespond.com and the related services (together, the "Service"), why we collect it, who can see it, and the choices you have.
Effective date: October 29, 2026. Questions: support@firerespond.com.
1. Who we are
Fire Respond is a dispatch and response tool for fire departments and other first-responder organizations. It is operated by the Fire Respond team ("we", "us"). You can reach us at support@firerespond.com.
Your department (the "organization" you belong to in the app) decides who is a member, what profile details are recorded about members, and which calls are sent to whom. For that information your department is the party responsible for deciding how it is used, and we process it on the department's behalf and under its instructions. For your account itself and for running the Service, we are responsible.
2. What we collect
| Information | Where it comes from | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account details: name, email address, optional phone number, password (stored only as a salted hash). | You, when you register or edit your account. | To create and secure your account and to let your department identify you. |
| Membership profile: role, title, badge or ID number, qualifications, emergency contact, notes, and the availability status you set. | You and your department's admins. | So your department can organize members, page the right people and see who is available. |
| Dispatch and response records: calls sent to you, when you saw them, whether and how you responded, your estimated arrival time, and update messages you post. | Your use of the app; your department's dispatchers or connected dispatch (CAD) system. | This is the core of the Service: telling your department who is coming. |
| Location: position, accuracy, heading and speed, only while you are responding to an active call and have allowed location access. | Your device, with your permission. | To show responders' positions and arrival estimates to your department. See section 3. |
| Device and push information: a push notification token, device name, platform and app version. | Your device, when you sign in. | To deliver dispatch notifications to your device. |
| Sign-in and security data: session records, IP address, browser or app identifier, time of last use. | Automatically, when you use the Service. | To keep your account secure, let you see and sign out devices, and prevent abuse (for example rate limiting). |
| Support correspondence: what you send us when you ask for help. | You. | To answer you. |
We do not collect contacts, photos, calendar data, advertising identifiers or analytics about your use of other apps. The Service contains no advertising and no third-party tracking.
3. Location data
Location is the most sensitive thing the app handles, so here is exactly how it works:
- The app only sends your location after you tap Respond on a call, and only while that call is active. It is never collected in the background outside of a call you are responding to.
- You can decline location access in iOS. You can still respond to calls; your department simply will not see your position or an arrival estimate.
- Location updates for a call are visible to the members of your department who can see that call. They are stored with the call's record so the department can review the response afterwards.
- Location sharing stops when the call is closed or cancelled, when you mark yourself on scene or unavailable, or when you close the app.
4. How we use it
- To provide the Service: send calls, record responses, show who is coming and when.
- To keep accounts secure and the Service reliable: authentication, session management, abuse prevention, troubleshooting.
- To communicate with you about the Service, such as answering support requests or notifying you of important changes.
- To comply with legal obligations.
We do not use your information for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to train artificial-intelligence models.
6. How long we keep it
- Your account is kept until you delete it (section 8) or your department removes you and you have no other memberships.
- Call and response records, including location history for a call, are kept by your department for as long as it keeps the organization in the Service. When you delete your account, your responses and location history are removed. Update messages you posted stay in the call's timeline with your name but are no longer linked to your account.
- Sign-in sessions expire automatically after 30 days of inactivity and can be revoked at any time.
- Server logs containing IP addresses are kept for a short period for security and troubleshooting and then deleted.
7. How we protect it
- All traffic between the app, the portal and our servers is encrypted with TLS (HTTPS). Unencrypted connections are refused.
- Passwords are stored only as salted hashes using a modern algorithm (Argon2). We cannot read your password.
- Sign-in tokens are short-lived, stored hashed on the server, and rotated automatically.
- Access is restricted by role: members only see the organizations they belong to, and only admins can manage members.
- Rate limiting and monitoring protect against brute-force and abuse.
No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach affecting your information we will notify affected departments and users as required by law.
8. Your choices and rights
- See and correct your information. Your account and profile details are shown in the app under Account and in the web portal. You can edit your name, phone and availability yourself; ask a department admin to correct profile details they manage.
- Control location access at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Fire Respond.
- Control notifications in iOS Settings → Notifications → Fire Respond.
- Sign out other devices under Account → Signed-in devices.
- Leave a department from the organization's member settings; your membership and its records are removed from that organization.
- Delete your account. In the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. In the portal: Account → Delete account. You will be asked for your password. Deletion is immediate and permanent and removes your account, devices, sign-ins, memberships, responses and location history. If you own an organization that still has other members, you will be asked to transfer ownership first or to delete that organization with your account.
- Ask us. Email support@firerespond.com to request a copy of your information, to ask a question, or to raise a concern. Depending on where you live you may also have the right to complain to a privacy regulator.
9. Children
The Service is intended for members of first-responder organizations and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.
10. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app or by email. The current version is always available at firerespond.com/privacy.
11. Contact
Fire Respond
Email: support@firerespond.com
Web: firerespond.com/support