Howard County connects prevention and response with one enterprise platform
Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services is connecting incident reporting, inspections, permits, pre-plans, ITM, and community data in First Due to give field crews clearer, more actionable information.
The biggest thing that really drove us to First Due is that you guys are the only company that are truly field first.
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Operational Impact & Key Outcomes
Prevention data built for the field
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One platform across key workflows
Six months of data for response
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The Story
Background
Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services serves about 350,000 residents from 14 stations with approximately 650 career personnel and additional combination-station resources.
Challenge
Incident documentation, inspections, permits, prevention workflows, and pre-plan information needed to work together without burying firefighters in long documents or disconnected systems. The department also needed an ITM portal that aligned with local requirements before expanding the rollout.
Solution
Howard County began implementing First Due across incident documentation, inspections, permits, fire prevention, pre-plans, ITM, Community Connect, and other operational modules. The team configured field-focused workflows and prepared officers and inspectors to contribute information directly to the platform.
Results
Within six months, the department built a foundation of inspection and occupancy data for field use, while beta testers described the pre-plan experience as a night-and-day improvement. The connected approach gives Howard County a path to put concise, relevant information in firefighters' hands and expand into additional enterprise workflows over time.
About
Howard County Fire and Rescue
Quick facts
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Connect prevention data to the field.
First Due brings inspections, ITM, Community Connect, pre-plans, and incident information into one platform so agencies can turn prevention records into actionable response intelligence.
In their own words:
- Why did Howard County choose First Due?
- The department viewed First Due as a field-first enterprise platform that could connect reporting, prevention, pre-plans, community information, and other operational workflows.
- Which workflows were included in the initial rollout?
- The team worked on incident documentation, inspections, permits, fire prevention, pre-plans, ITM, Community Connect, and additional enterprise modules.
- What changed for pre-plan information?
- Howard County began moving from lengthy static documents toward concise, operational information that firefighters can access in the field.
- What early feedback did the department receive?
- Beta testers described the pre-plan experience as a night-and-day improvement for the field.
Ready to see what First Due can do for your agency?
See how First Due helps agencies simplify operations, improve visibility, and support better response outcomes.
