Jonesboro puts critical call data on every phone
Jonesboro Fire Department uses First Due to put routing, hydrants, hazards, and unit movement on every firefighter’s phone—helping crews respond with more confidence before they ever reach the rig.</p>
"It saves minutes off our response time… just by knowing where we’re going."
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Operational Impact & Key Outcomes
11,501 Incidents Supported in 2025
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7 Stations. One Operational Picture.
10 VEHICLES,BETTER ROUTING
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The Story
Background
Jonesboro Fire Department serves a fast-moving city where every minute matters. Before First Due, getting to the right place with the right information often depended on who was on the rig, how well they knew the district, and how quickly crews could piece details together from memory, paper references, and verbal directions.
That created friction during the earliest moments of a call, especially at night or for newer firefighters still learning the city. Crews could be checking a wall map, referencing a plug book, or relying on someone else’s familiarity with the area while trying to get oriented for the response.
Challenge
The department’s challenge was not just navigation. Response-critical information lived across different places and formats, making it harder to create a consistent operational picture for every crew. Routing, hydrants, hazards, and unit locations were not always available in one view at the same moment firefighters were mobilizing.
Beyond response, day-to-day operational work was also spread across separate tools and manual processes. Tasks such as vacation picks, maintenance requests, vehicle checks, hydrant inspections, pre-plans, and other routine workflows required extra steps and context switching.
Solution
After implementing First Due, Jonesboro put response intelligence directly into firefighters’ hands from dispatch to mobile device. As crews walk to the apparatus, they can already see turn-by-turn routing, district context, hydrant locations, hazmat or critical premise notes when available, and where units are responding from and where they are going.
The department also expanded use of the platform over time to centralize additional operational workflows. Teams now use First Due for vehicle checks, maintenance reporting, hydrant inspections, pre-plans, business inspections, scheduling and shift board management, and incident reporting, with plans to continue rolling out additional modules in phases.
Results
The result is a more assured response with fewer missed turns and time saved on runs because everyone can see the same information earlier in the process. That consistency is especially valuable for newer firefighters, who gain better district awareness while responding instead of relying only on local familiarity.
Operationally, Jonesboro also reduced the friction of daily administrative work by bringing previously separate processes into one system. The department now supports response and routine operations through a shared platform used across 7 stations, 10 frontline vehicles, and 11,501 incidents in 2025.
About
Jonesboro Fire Department
Quick facts
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Pre-plans that show up when crews need them most
First Due Pre-Incident Planning helps departments capture critical premise details such as access points, hazards, utilities, floor plans, and tactical considerations, then deliver that information to crews on the way to the call. With pre-plans and premise notes connected to the map, teams can arrive better prepared and make faster, safer decisions.
In their own words:
- What were you using before First Due?
- Before First Due, the department used Streetwise mostly for mapping, along with wall maps, plug books, and separate tools for different tasks.
- What changed the most once First Due was in place?
- The biggest change was getting dispatch information directly to phones so crews could see where they were going, along with units, hydrants, and hazards, while walking to the trucks.
- How does that affect response time and missed turns?
- It saves minutes and reduces missed turns because everyone can follow the same directions and map.
- Is it just for response, or do you use it for daily operations too?
- The department also uses it for truck checks, scheduling and shift board management, vacation picking, standbys, maintenance reporting, hydrants, pre-plans, and inspections.
- How does reporting a mechanical issue work now?
- A report can be submitted through the system and routed directly to mechanics through an automated workflow.
- How was vacation picking before versus now?
- It used to rely on a battalion chief walking around with a paper calendar. Now staff receive an alert, make their selection in the system, and see it reflected on the shift board.
- Any lessons learned about rolling out a platform like this?
- The rollout worked best by integrating capabilities gradually rather than introducing everything at once, and the department continues adding more modules over time.
Ready to modernize response and daily operations?
See how First Due can help your agency centralize tools, improve situational awareness, and move faster from dispatch to decision.
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