Leaving First Due

The same job, for a third of the bill. Or less.

First Due does a lot, and it charges like it. Published quotes run near $10,000 for the first year of a small department, before implementation. WatchRoom does the daily work a department actually does, on a phone, for a price a volunteer budget can carry. And because we have sat with a real First Due account, we can tell you exactly what moves across and what does not.

Open the live demo Start a free trial

The migration is free and we do it. Send the export, and your records are in WatchRoom the same day.

Why departments leave First Due

Renewals plus module add-ons plus implementation fees add up to more than most departments budgeted
The workflow builder and configuration take training that volunteer officers do not have time for
Chiefs tell us they use a fraction of what they pay for

What is different here

Your hydrants come over whole, with their zones, their last service, and their calculated flow at twenty psi. So do your apparatus, with all three of the names First Due keeps for the same truck
Your inspection checklists rebuild question for question, one per inspection type, and your inspection list becomes occupancies with the visits you have already done
First Due does not export personnel, certifications, or full incident reports. Your roster comes from your own file, and your old reports stay in First Due while new calls start with us. Every switch between systems loses something; we would rather you hear it from us now than find it in week three
WatchRoom is simpler on purpose. It does the work a department does every week and does it from a phone; it is not a platform to configure

How the move works

1
Download every list
Each grid in First Due has a download icon at the bottom, beside the page count. Hydrants, apparatus, locations, equipment, work orders, inspections and each inspection type's checklist, pre-plans, incidents, training, time off. Set the page size to All before you click, because some screens export only the page you are looking at and a few stop at a thousand rows.
2
Drop the whole pile on one page
WatchRoom knows First Due's files by their columns. Every one lands where it belongs with no mapping and no consultant, and anything we do not bring across says so on screen instead of failing quietly. Running the same export again later updates records rather than duplicating them.
3
Bring your roster separately
First Due has no roster export, so your people come from the spreadsheet you already keep or from your state fire college transcript. That is one file, and it is the first thing to load because calls and training match members by name.
4
Set up the station in an afternoon
Add a truck checklist, invite the crew, connect Active911 or your dispatch center. The first truck check happens that night.

What it costs

What kind of department are you?

How do you want to pay?

Every department starts here

Included with every subscription.

Incidents & NERIS
Daily incident logging with voice entry, sent straight to NERIS.
What is in itLess
- Incident logging with voice entry
- NERIS federal submission
- Personnel roster & certifications
- Reports, PDF exports & email
- File imports & an email-in inbox for old records
- Document storage for SOGs & policies
- Budget lines, receipts & spend from fuel and uniforms
- Station Ops dashboard, calendar & weather
$250 a yearIncluded

What volunteer departments reach for

Drill nights, the ISO evaluator, and the trucks.

Training
Drill-night logging with attendance and ISO category mapping.
What is in itLess
- Training sessions & attendance from a phone
- Member-hour tracking
- ISO training category mapping
- Training documentation reports
$100 a year
ISO Readiness
Know your ISO standing all year, not just the month before the evaluator shows up.
Needs Training and Apparatus & Gear
What is in itLess
- ISO readiness dashboard & rolling 12-month windows
- One-click ISO packet & forms
- Hydrants, flow tests & water supply credit
- Pre-plans with county property records
- Community risk reduction tracking
$150 a year
Apparatus & Gear
Truck checks, hose records, and gear inspections: the liability paper trail.
What is in itLess
- Apparatus records & test history
- Truck check-offs with compartment inventory
- Hose inventory & annual testing
- Turnout gear (PPE) inspection board
- Fuel tracker with AI receipt reading
- Uniform & clothing cost tracking
$100 a year

What career and combination departments add

Shifts, time off, the time clock, and pay-period hours.

Scheduling & Admin
Shift schedule, time off, time clock, and hours: the shift house in one place.
What is in itLess
- Shift schedule from rotation patterns
- Time-off banks with request & approve
- Time clock with punch review
- Pay-period hours reports
- Daily assignments board & printed sheet
$150 a year

Volunteer, 5 of 5 features

$600 a year

That is the Everything price. It saves you $150 a year over picking each one separately.

Start your free 60-day trial

No setup fee. Free migration from First Due, ESO, Emergency Reporting, or a pile of spreadsheets, whatever you are on now. Change your features any time and billing prorates itself. Running a county system or an agency? Reach out at hello@getwatchroom.com.

Do our people come over?

Not from First Due, because First Due has no export for personnel or certifications. Send us the roster spreadsheet you already keep, or your fire college transcript, and we load it. Most departments have one of those already.

What happens to our old incident reports?

First Due exports calls as a list, not as reports: number, date, address, dispatch type, first arriving unit. Those come across so you can look a call up. The full reports, with narratives and losses, stay in First Due, so keep your access through the end of your term and start new calls in WatchRoom. Every department that changes systems does it this way.

How long does the import take?

An evening. Downloading the files is the slow part; dropping them in takes minutes, and you see what landed before anything saves.

Is WatchRoom as customizable as First Due?

No, and that is the point. Checklists, call types, ranks, and forms are yours to set; the workflow engine is not something you have to build. Departments switching to us are usually relieved by that.

Does it do NERIS?

Yes. Every call is in the NERIS format and files with one click.

What about our contract?

Check your renewal date and export before it. Plenty of departments run WatchRoom alongside First Due for the last few months of a term, which also lets you compare them on the same calls. WatchRoom is month to month, so there is nothing to time on our side.

Have a look before you talk to anyone.

The live demo is a full career department with every feature on. Open it and click around. When you are ready, the trial is sixty days, every feature on, no credit card, and your records come with you.

Open the live demo Start your free 60-day trial

The same job, for a third of the bill. Or less.

The migration is free and we do it. Send the export, and your records are in WatchRoom the same day.

How the move works

Download every list

Each grid in First Due has a download icon at the bottom, beside the page count. Hydrants, apparatus, locations, equipment, work orders, inspections and each inspection type's checklist, pre-plans, incidents, training, time off. Set the page size to All before you click, because some screens export only the page you are looking at and a few stop at a thousand rows.

Drop the whole pile on one page

WatchRoom knows First Due's files by their columns. Every one lands where it belongs with no mapping and no consultant, and anything we do not bring across says so on screen instead of failing quietly. Running the same export again later updates records rather than duplicating them.

Bring your roster separately

First Due has no roster export, so your people come from the spreadsheet you already keep or from your state fire college transcript. That is one file, and it is the first thing to load because calls and training match members by name.

Set up the station in an afternoon

Add a truck checklist, invite the crew, connect Active911 or your dispatch center. The first truck check happens that night.