Firefighter Trades
For departments
Bring your department on
Every department runs as its own private space, built around your department's own ranks, stations, divisions, and shift rotation — not a generic scheduling tool bent to fit. Posted days, profiles, and trades are visible only to other members of your department, never to other departments and never publicly.
Setting up a new department is free and usually takes one email and a copy of your shift calendar.
Pick the path that fits you
Download the app and join the United States Fire Department space. It's open to anyone — no invite code needed. It's the right place to kick the tires and see how the app works before you pitch it to anyone.
Because its members come from hundreds of different rotations, the open space doesn't apply shift-calendar rules. You can post any day.
Email us and we'll set it up. A private department space means only people you invite can get in, and everyone in it is on your actual rank, station, and division structure.
Request a department spaceOpen the app, tap Invite, and send the link by text. Whoever you send it to gets the download link and an access code in one message. Each link covers a group of people and expires after a set window — the app shows the current limits when you create one.
What we need to set you up
Send whatever you have — a screenshot of the shift calendar and a roster list usually covers it:
- Department name as your people would recognize it.
- Ranks that trade with each other — the app matches trades rank to rank.
- Stations in your department.
- Divisions or platoons and what you call them (A/B/C, 1/2/3, Red/Black, whatever it is).
- Your shift rotation — one full cycle of dates and which division works each one. This is what lets the calendar color-code shifts and stop people from posting a day they were never on.
No rotation handy? Not a blocker. A department without a shift calendar loaded just skips the color-coding and the posting restriction — everything else works normally. We can always add the rotation later.
How access works
Private departments are invite-only, and deliberately so. Everyone inside a department got there because someone already in that department invited them personally. That's what keeps a department's trade board to actual department members — the same way a station bulletin board stays trustworthy because of who has keys to the station.
Joining a private department takes an access code that combines your department's own code with an invite issued by an existing member. Neither half works on its own, and invites expire. Anyone can create an account, but an account without a valid invite can't see inside your department.
The first few members of a new department are added by us directly when the space is created. After that, your people invite each other.
Questions we get from chiefs and union reps
Is this an official scheduling system?
No, and it isn't trying to be. Firefighter Trades is where members find and agree on a trade. The trade still gets finalized through your department's official channels, following your existing standard operating procedures, exactly as it does today. Nothing here touches your staffing or scheduling software.
Who can see our members' information?
Only other members of your own department. Names, ranks, stations, and posted days are walled off at the department level and enforced on the server, not just hidden in the app. Phone numbers are shared only with a confirmed trade partner, and only if that member turned phone sharing on. See the Privacy Policy for specifics.
How do you know someone actually works for our department?
We don't check employment records, and we don't claim to. Access is controlled by your own people: a private department can only be joined with an invite from someone already inside it. It's self-policed by design — the department decides who gets in, the same way it already decides who's on the station group text.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The app is free, and setting up a department is free.
Does the department have to sign anything or administer it?
No. There's nothing for the department to install, approve, or maintain. Members sign up individually, the same way they'd join any app.
Can we get our people off it later?
Any member can delete their account and all their data from Settings at any time, and deletion is immediate.
Ready to start?
Tell us your department and we'll take it from there. If you're not sure yet, join the open space first and have a look around — no commitment, no code.