For fire departments
Bid Day Without the Call List
Vacation picks and station seats, in seniority order, from any phone or computer. When a turn comes up, Fire-Bid emails that person unless they have turned email off, and sends a push alert if they have turned alerts on. Within each round, the bid moves on when a pick is accepted or a person passes, so nobody sits by a phone and nobody works down a call list.
Vacation Bid
Vacation days, chosen in seniority order within each shift.
Shift Bid
Stations and riding positions, chosen by rank and then seniority.
Pages
Non-emergency written pages to a shift, a rank or one person, with optional replies.
Access code required. Request one from contact@fire-bid.com.
See how a bid runs further down this page.
Vacation Bid
Run each shift's vacation picks in seniority order using your department's starting balances, accrual rates and staffing limits. People pick days or pass when their turn comes up.
B Shift, March 2027
Projected balance: 88.0 hrs
- Open
- Close to cap
- Cap reached
- Standby
- Off shift
Sample data. Not a real department's month.
Starting Balances
An admin enters and locks each person's starting balance before the bid opens.
Day-by-Day Accrual Checks
When a request comes up short against that balance, Fire-Bid checks what will have accrued by the picked dates, day by day.
Staffing Limits and Standby
Daily caps are set up for your department. Individual dates can be overridden or blocked, and requests past the cap enter standby in arrival order.
Turn Notifications
When the bid opens and when their turn comes up, people get an email unless they have turned email off, and a push alert if they have turned alerts on.
Records You Can Export
Admins can download picked days as a CSV. Picks, passes and admin changes are recorded with who acted and when.
Shift Bid
Assign people to stations and riding positions by rank, then seniority within each rank. When their turn comes up, they take an open seat they qualify for.
Up now: Sample Bidder
Station 1, A Shift
- Engine 1
- Truck 1
- Rescue 1
- Engine 1: Captain (your seat), Engineer (taken), Firefighter (taken), Firefighter (open)
- Truck 1: Captain (taken), Engineer (taken), Firefighter (open), Firefighter (open)
- Rescue 1: Captain (taken), Firefighter (open)
Your seat: Engine 1, Captain
- Open
- Taken
- Your seat
Sample data. Not a real department's assignments.
Rank, Then Seniority
Captains bid before engineers, and engineers before firefighters. Seniority sets the order within each rank.
Seats You Qualify For
The board offers the open seats a person qualifies for, down to the riding position, such as “Engine 1, Captain”.
A Clear View of the Board
See who is up, which seats are open and which are already taken.
Re-Bids When Needed
An admin can open a re-bid from a chosen person. People ahead of them keep their latest seats, which the admin confirms first. That person's seat and the seats of everyone after them reopen.
Seats Named in the Record
Seat takes, removals and admin changes are logged with who acted and when, using seat names such as “Engine 1, Captain”.
Pages
Send a short written page to the people it is for: everyone, a shift, a rank, a qualification, a mix of those, or one person. Each person is sent it by email unless they have turned email off, and by push alert if they have turned alerts on, and what was sent to each is recorded. Not for emergencies or dispatch.
Page
Drill moved to Station 2
From Captain Sample Sender, to B Shift, Engineer.
Thursday's drill is at Station 2 at 0900. Bring turnouts.
Sent 03/04/2027, 7:42 AM PST. Sent by email or alert to 11 of 12; nothing went to 1 person.
Reply from Sample Engineer: I will bring the rope bag.
Not for emergencies or dispatch.
Sample data. Not a real department's page.
Choose Who It Reaches
Everyone, a shift, a rank or a qualification, any mix of those, or one person. Before it goes, the sender sees who it reaches and how many have email and alerts both off.
Replies Between Two People
When a page allows replies, each reply opens a thread between that person and the sender. An admin who is not one of them reads it only after a second admin approves a review, and both people see that it was opened.
Scheduled Pages
Schedule a page up to 30 days ahead. Until it goes out, its sender can edit or cancel it, and a cancelled page is never sent.
A Daily Limit
Anyone in the department can send pages, up to five a day by default. Bid admins and paging admins have no limit.
An Append-Only Record
Every page, who it went to, whether each person was sent it by email and by push or why not, and every edit, cancel and reply are recorded in an append-only history.
How a Bid Runs
Both bids follow a set order. A turn has no time limit, and the actions taken are recorded.
- 01
Set Up the Department
Shifts, rosters and bid rules are set up for your department. Vacation Bid includes starting balances and accrual rates. Shift Bid includes ranks, qualifications, stations and seats.
- 02
Open the Bid
Bids run per shift. Vacation Bid follows seniority. Shift Bid follows rank, then seniority within each rank.
- 03
Choose in Turn
In Vacation Bid, people pick days or pass. In Shift Bid, they take an open seat they qualify for. A turn has no time limit. An admin can move the bid on when needed, and that action is logged.
- 04
Keep the Record
Picks, passes, seats taken, removals and admin changes are recorded with who acted and when.
Who Uses It
Firefighters
Pick vacation days or take a seat when your turn comes up, from your phone or a computer.
Admins and Chiefs
Run the bids your department uses. Manage rosters and turns, review vacation balances or shift seats, and follow the record of changes.
Each person uses one sign-in for both bids. Your department's records are kept apart from other departments' by checks in Fire-Bid's server code and access rules in the database.
Talk About Your Department's Bids
Tell us how your department runs vacation picks and station assignments. We can discuss Vacation Bid on its own or both bids together.
Talk to usOr email contact@fire-bid.com.
Already using Fire-Bid? Ask your department administrator about a record that looks wrong, such as seniority, a balance, a vacation day, a qualification or a seat assignment. Admin corrections are logged. For a software problem, sign in and use “Report an issue”, or email contact@fire-bid.com if you cannot sign in.