Getting started
Who is FireSignal for?
Licensed Texas restoration contractors operating in Travis County — shops that respond to residential and commercial fire damage. Onboarding requires verification of a Texas TDLR Mold Remediation Contractor license or equivalent restoration-trade credential.
How long does signup take?
About two minutes. We verify your license number, capture TCPA opt-in for the SMS channel, and let you draw your service area on a map. The first alert can land within an hour if a dispatch happens in your territory.
Do I need to install an app?
No. Alerts are plain SMS. The Briefing link opens in your phone's default browser. Works on every carrier, every phone, with or without gloves.
Coverage and data
Which counties do you cover?
All of Travis County for v1 — every AFD and ESD jurisdiction, via the City of Austin's consolidated CTECC feed. Williamson is the v1.1 target; Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell follow.
Where does the dispatch data come from?
The City of Austin Open Data Real-Time Fire Incidents dataset (wpu4-x69d). CTECC dispatches both AFD and all Travis County ESDs over the same radio system, so the single feed covers the whole county.
How fresh is the data?
We poll every five minutes. The Briefing's data-freshness indicator shows exactly how stale the data is. If the upstream feed goes silent, the indicator flips to a warning state and the public status page is updated.
Why not scanner audio?
Federal commercial-use ambiguity around scanner-derived data under 18 USC §2511 makes that a fight we'd need outside counsel to operationalize. Open-Data-only is the latency floor for now.
Pricing and billing
How much does it cost?
$499/month flat, billed monthly, up to 3 user seats. Extra seats are $29/month each. Webhook access is an additional $199/month.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. New accounts get a free trial period before any card is required. The first pilot cohort of 2–5 Travis County shops gets 60–90 days free.
How do I cancel?
Two ways: cancel in the dashboard, or reply STOP to any FireSignal SMS. STOP is honored at the carrier within seconds. Dashboard access continues through the billing period.
Compliance and TCPA
Is FireSignal TCPA-compliant?
Yes. Every subscriber's opt-in is logged with the exact consent text version, IP, user agent, and timestamp. STOP and HELP keywords are honored across the carrier network. Frequency and message-type disclosures are surfaced before the opt-in checkbox.
What about Texas's mini-TCPA (SB 140 / Ch. 305)?
FireSignal operates under the operational-alert exemption for paid B2B subscribers. We're not a telemarketer; you've explicitly subscribed to receive operational notices about your service territory.
Are you registered with TCR for 10DLC?
Yes. We're registered through Twilio under a Sole Proprietor brand during the pilot phase. Upon first paying customer we re-register under the operating LLC as Low Volume Standard.
Operations and conduct
Are you sending homeowner contact info?
No, and we never will. The properties table is schema-locked against owner names, addresses, or phone numbers. A CI test blocks the deploy if anyone tries to add one. We do not skip-trace, people-search, or otherwise look up the homeowner.
Will customers chase fire victims with this?
Our Acceptable Use Policy explicitly prohibits it. Texas Business & Commerce Code Ch. 58 (Disaster Remediation) is honored automatically — alerts in active declared-disaster zones are suppressed or watermarked, keeping subscribers out of Ch. 58 contract scope.
What if a homeowner complains about a contractor?
We have a complaint runbook. Intake at /complaint, 24-hour acknowledgement, investigation, and a warning → suspension → termination workflow with appeals. Customers know up front that the AUP is enforced.
Status and uptime?
A public status page is available at status.getfiresignal.com with the current state of ingest, dispatch, and SMS. Incidents are posted within 30 minutes of detection along with the running root cause.
Still have a question?
Email hello@getfiresignal.com — a person answers.