Software that we need & what we don’t need …

Volunteer Fire Departments have had to accept career department leftover software for way too long. We were forced to struggle with software designed for people paid to work on reports full-time, and that isn’t us. We are volunteers wearing many hats, doing many jobs, and serving our community as best we can. Our systems need to ease our work, not drag us down.

Of the things we need, we need software that:

• Does what we need for department management, but also supports AFG/ISO;
  • Incidents & Member Percentages (NFIRS/NERIS, AFG),
  • Training & Member Hours (ISO),
  • Truck Checks/Maintenance (ISO).
• Is simple, but not basic; easy to understand and easier to use.
• Respects our volunteer firefighters; keeping them informed and engaged, while also contributing. Engaged firefighters are retained firefighters.
• Works where we are; mobile & on our phones. From the station, from our apparatus, from work, from home.
• Has no NFIRS codes to memorize, nor NFIRS rules to work around before going back to bed.
• Software that works for and with us, how we work.

Here are the things we don't need:

• Software designed before your kids were born; back when "software is hard to write, so it should be hard to use".
• Feature after complex feature that is overkill, overwhelming & more than your volunteer department can handle.
• Endless screens of menus with unused features, grey boxes, and rules that stop you getting to done.
• Arbitrary modules and add-ons costs that are expensive and nickel-and-diming at every turn.
• Corporate support; stuck in a weeks-long queue, behind the big "important customers".
• Corporate process; bounced around between faceless departments.

Did I miss anything? Hit reply and let me know.

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Responserack is for Volunteer Fire Departments

This is the thinking that created Responserack, and drives Responserack forward. If you are interested in improving your 2025 in 2025, please check out Responserack.

Responserack is simple for your firefighters yet powerful for your administrators and far from basic. It works when & how volunteers work, and it does what you need. Get onboard with Responserack in January and your future self and future department will thank you. No need to wait, it is doable now.​
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