Community Connect: What to Know Before You Sign Up
Community & Public Safety | October 31, 2026 | Updated November 4, 2026
Community Connect: What to Know Before You Sign Up
The voluntary Fire Rescue program lets residents share information before an emergency. What you provide is your choice, and there are benefits, limits and privacy questions to consider.
By Rob Allan | The Tattler / BarefootBay.com
November 4 Update: Breakfast Postponed
The Community Connect and pancake breakfast scheduled for November 7 at Station 86 has been postponed due to the recent weather event. Brevard County Fire Rescue has tentatively rescheduled it for Saturday, December 12, 2026.
A small Fire Rescue outreach event will still take place at Station 86 on Saturday, November 7, 2026, distributing general public education information. The breakfast will not take place that day.
The December 12 date is tentative. Updated hours for the breakfast and November 7 outreach were not specified in the notice provided by Tony Franco, Fire Safety Inspector with Brevard County Fire Rescue.
Brevard County Fire Rescue is encouraging residents to consider Community Connect, an online program that allows households to share information firefighters and paramedics may find useful during an emergency.
Schedule Update | Station 86
Breakfast Postponed
December 12, 2026
Tentative new date
Brevard County Fire Rescue Station 86
301 Barefoot Boulevard
Barefoot Bay
The November 7 Community Connect and pancake breakfast has been postponed because of the recent weather event. The new date is tentative; updated hours have not been confirmed.
Still happening November 7: a small Fire Rescue outreach event at Station 86, handing out general public education information. Its hours were not specified in the update.
Community Connect participation is voluntary.
Seconds can matter in a medical emergency. Advance knowledge of mobility limitations, an important medical condition, an emergency contact or pets inside a home could help responding crews prepare before they arrive.
The program also involves private information about a household. Residents may reasonably make different choices about what they are comfortable sharing, depending on their circumstances and the answers they receive about access, use and retention.
The Tattler asked Brevard County Fire Rescue about those issues. Fire Marshal Douglas Carter responded in writing and offered a demonstration. His answers, together with the program’s terms and the vendor’s published privacy policy, provide a starting point for residents considering enrollment.
What You Can Choose to Share
Community Connect is part of the First Due software platform. Its residential portal allows users to provide household contacts, health and functional needs, pet information and property details that may help emergency responders.
Carter says participation is entirely voluntary and residents may provide as little or as much information as they are comfortable sharing. Some participants provide detailed information; others provide only an emergency contact. Creating an account requires basic registration information, but the County is not describing detailed medical disclosure as a requirement to participate.
Once enrolled, residents are responsible for keeping their information accurate. A change in who lives at an address, a contact number or a household member’s needs can affect whether an entry remains useful.
How Responders Use the Information
According to Carter, when crews receive a call for service, the address appears on their mobile data terminal and they can open the resident-provided information while traveling to the home.
He describes a one-way flow of incident information from the Tyler dispatch system into First Due. Authorized Fire Rescue personnel can then use the platform during their response.
The program’s terms state that providing information does not create a new obligation for an agency or responder to access, review or act on it. A profile may assist a response, but residents should not assume every entry will be read in every emergency.
For an emergency, call 911. Community Connect is not a way to report an emergency or request immediate assistance.
Who Can See Your Profile?
Carter says the Sheriff’s Office and dispatchers do not have access to Community Connect resident profiles. Certain authorized Fire Rescue personnel have administrative access, he says, and an audit trail records who accesses information and when. Responding crews can see information for the call they are handling.
He also says Brevard’s Community Connect implementation does not communicate with or integrate into Flock camera systems or license plate readers.
Those answers address direct access to the program. They do not fully explain whether a firefighter or paramedic may relay profile details to deputies assisting with an EMS call, whether those details may enter another incident record, or whether an entry may influence a request for law enforcement assistance.
Asked how disclosures about mental health or a large dog might affect responders’ assumptions, Carter said crews are trained to evaluate a situation and provide appropriate care safely. The responses reviewed by The Tattler do not specify how those entries are classified or shared during a joint response. We have no confirmation that a diagnosis or pet entry automatically triggers a deputy response.
Privacy Has Limits
Carter says residents’ information is used for emergency response and describes emergency-purpose and medical information as exempt from public-records disclosure. His response does not identify the specific exemption applying to each type of profile information. He also acknowledges that information would have to be provided if subpoenaed. The County’s stated purpose and public-records assurances therefore should not be read as a guarantee against disclosure through legal process.
First Due’s published privacy policy likewise allows legally required disclosures, including in response to subpoenas. It describes security measures but states that absolute security cannot be guaranteed.
The policy also describes circumstances in which information may be disclosed to prevent injury, property damage or violations of rights. Residents considering sensitive disclosures should read those provisions alongside the County’s explanation of its local practices.
What Happens When You Delete a Profile?
Carter says residents can review, change or delete their information or account at any time. He says accounts require annual verification and close if that verification does not occur. His written response states: “We do not save the information.”
The Community Connect and Business Portal Terms of Service supplied to The Tattler, effective July 17, 2026, also address retention. Section 19.3 permits information already made available to an agency to remain with that agency, and with First Due on its behalf, after account termination, subject to applicable records obligations, law and the privacy policy.
First Due’s privacy policy permits certain retention for legal obligations, dispute resolution and enforcement of agreements.
Those provisions do not establish that Brevard keeps every deleted profile. They do mean that we cannot confirm that closing an account or deleting an entry permanently removes every copy, including backups, earlier versions or information already incorporated into another record. The precise operation of Brevard’s deletion process remains a question for the County and vendor.
Other Household Members Have a Choice, Too
Under Section 5.3 of the program’s terms, someone submitting information about another adult must have that person’s consent. Health or other sensitive information requires express consent. Information about a minor requires the appropriate parental or guardian authority or consent.
The terms place responsibility on the person entering the information. They do not establish that each adult signs a separate authorization, and The Tattler has not confirmed how Brevard’s enrollment process verifies consent.
One person’s decision to enroll does not, by itself, provide another adult’s permission to disclose private health information.
Deciding What Is Right for Your Household
A resident living alone with a significant medical need may see a strong benefit in providing details before an emergency. Another household may choose to supply an emergency contact and limited information about access or mobility. Others may want more answers before creating a profile or entering sensitive details.
Residents can ask Fire Rescue how a particular entry would be displayed, who could receive it during a response, how consent is documented and what happens after it is removed. The County’s written responses provide useful assurances, while the vendor documents explain limits that also deserve consideration.
Your Information, Your Decision
Participation is voluntary. Consider your household’s circumstances, obtain the required consent before providing someone else’s information, and decide what you are comfortable sharing. If the handling of a particular detail is unclear, ask before submitting it.
Sources and further reading: Brevard County Fire Rescue’s written responses to The Tattler; Tony Franco’s November 4 event update; the original Station 86 breakfast flyer; and the Community Connect and Business Portal Terms of Service, effective July 17, 2026, particularly Sections 4.4–4.5, 5.2–5.3 and 19.3.
- Community Connect program overview — general vendor information, not Brevard-specific operating rules.
- First Due privacy policy
- Brevard County Fire Rescue — department information and contacts.
Program information reviewed October 31, 2026; event schedule updated November 4, 2026. County statements describe its reported local practices; vendor terms describe the broader service. This article identifies where the materials reviewed do not establish a complete answer.
Original flyer — schedule supersededThe November 7 breakfast date and hours on this original flyer are superseded. The breakfast is tentatively rescheduled for December 12; updated hours are not confirmed.