Sources & Methodology
Where our information comes from and how we handle it before it reaches you.
Where our information comes from
Firehouse Defense relies on publicly available information from official agencies. We do not fabricate incident information, and we do not publish unverified social-media reports as fact.
Our dispatch page is powered by live official data: incident information comes from CAL FIRE's public incident feed (incidents.fire.ca.gov), fire-weather alerts come from the National Weather Service public API (api.weather.gov), and the dispatch news wire pulls from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and InciWeb. The site's News section uses the Los Angeles Times Fires RSS feed (headlines and short summaries only; full stories stay on latimes.com). Data is refreshed approximately every five to fifteen minutes, and every item links back to its original source.
How updates are verified and timestamped
- Every incident update identifies its source agency.
- Every update shows when it was first published.
- Every update shows when we last checked it.
- Incidents are clearly marked active or resolved.
- When we have no verified information, we show an honest empty state instead of a guess.
What we don't claim
Our information is not guaranteed to be complete or real-time, and it never replaces official emergency alerts. Firehouse Defense is an independent informational resource, not an emergency service or government agency. During an emergency, call 911 when appropriate and follow official instructions.
Location privacy
We describe incident locations in general terms (neighborhoods, canyon areas, road corridors). We do not publish private residential addresses or personal information.