sustaining fire and rescue services through partnership and innovation
FIRE AND RESCUE REIMBURSEMENT SERVICES
COST RECOVERY SOFTWARE
About FireAlly
Our Mission
To create a sustainable and collaborative funding model for fire and rescue services by uniting communities, insurance partners, and public-sector stakeholders - ensuring every department has the financial resources needed to protect life and property effectively.
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FireAlly
A Call to Action
Dear Fire Service Leaders,
Fire departments across the United States are being asked to do more than ever before — with fewer volunteers, aging equipment, rising operational costs, and expanding expectations. Medical calls, climate-driven incidents, hazard mitigation, and social service gaps have turned the fire service into the nation’s default safety net.
Yet while demands have grown, fire department funding models have not kept pace.
In many cases, fire departments are absorbing the full cost of emergency response and hazard mitigation for incidents that are clearly insurable — motor vehicle accidents, structure fires, hazardous materials incidents, and other events tied to insured risk. These costs are often paid by local taxpayers, fundraisers, or volunteers themselves, even when the response directly prevents greater loss for insurers and property owners.
Cost recovery software and reimbursement services offer fire departments a lawful, transparent way to restore resources to the communities that deploy them — without billing residents, burdening volunteers, or undermining public trust. When implemented correctly, these models:
• Reimburse departments for response and mitigation tied to insured events
• Protect taxpayers from subsidizing private risk
• Fund training, equipment, and volunteer retention
• Improve readiness and long-term sustainability
• Reinforce the value of the fire service as professional, essential infrastructure
Cost recovery is not privatization. It does not replace public funding. It strengthens it by ensuring that extraordinary, insurable events do not drain community resources meant for everyday protection.
We encourage fire departments to:
• Explore cost recovery reimbursement as a sustainability tool
• Engage legal counsel and municipal partners early to ensure transparency and compliance
• Educate boards, members, and communities on why reimbursement protects local service
• Adopt models that prioritize fairness, clarity, and community trust
Firefighters should not have to fundraise to respond to insured losses. Communities should not bear the cost of private risk. And departments should not be forced to choose between readiness today and survival tomorrow.
By reclaiming resources already allocated and paid by individuals to protect their property, fire departments can stabilize operations, retain volunteers, and continue protecting their communities with strength and dignity.
With respect and appreciation,
Allyn Weimer
Founder, FireAlly
CEO, innovaPad
Dear Insurance Leaders and Trade Association Partners,
The fire service is one of the most critical — and most underrecognized — components of the insurance and risk-mitigation ecosystem. Every day, fire departments protect insured lives, properties, and infrastructure by intervening at the earliest and most decisive moments of loss. Yet the systems that sustain this protection are under growing strain.
Across the country, fire departments — particularly volunteer and rural agencies — are facing rising call volumes, aging equipment, workforce shortages, and escalating costs driven by market consolidation and privatized supply chains. These pressures are not theoretical. They translate directly into delayed response times, reduced readiness, and increased loss severity.
For insurers, this represents a material risk exposure.
Emergency response and hazard mitigation are not peripheral services; they are foundational to loss prevention. Firefighters stabilize scenes, prevent secondary damage, protect neighboring properties, and reduce the scale and cost of claims long before insurers are notified. Yet the costs of this work, including those associated with emergency response reimbursement, are overwhelmingly borne by local communities — even when the triggering event is an insured loss.
This misalignment is neither efficient nor sustainable.
We urge insurers, reinsurers, and industry trade associations to take a leadership role in modernizing how fire department funding and sustainability are addressed by the insurance sector.
Specifically, we call on industry leaders to:
• Recognize fire service as a core risk-mitigation asset, not a background public utility
• Support direct reimbursement or cost recovery software mechanisms for emergency response and hazard mitigation tied to insured events
• Partner with fire departments and national fire organizations to ensure readiness, training, and equipment sustainability
• Align ESG and corporate responsibility commitments with tangible investment in community emergency infrastructure
• Advocate for regulatory clarity that supports fair, transparent reimbursement models without increasing policyholder friction
When emergency services are underfunded, losses increase — not because risks are unavoidable, but because mitigation capacity has been weakened. Supporting the fire service strengthens communities, stabilizes loss outcomes, and protects the very assets on which the insurance industry depends.
The opportunity before us is clear: move from externalizing emergency response costs to partnering in resilience. The insurance industry has both the influence and the incentive to lead this shift.
We invite you to engage with fire service leaders, municipalities, and emerging reimbursement models that reflect modern risk realities — and to help build a system that protects communities, responders, and insured assets alike.
Respectfully,
Allyn Weimer
Founder, FireAlly
CEO, innovaPad
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