The Westport Fire Department ("Department," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our website, westportfire.org (the "Website"). This Website is maintained on behalf of the Town of Westport, Massachusetts to provide information about the Department, its personnel, programs, and administrative services to the public. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through the Website, how we use it, and the choices available to you.

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By using this Website, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

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1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

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1.1 Information Collected Automatically

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When you visit westportfire.org, our website hosting platform may automatically collect standard technical information, including:

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• IP address and approximate location

• Browser type and version

• Pages viewed and time spent on the site

• Referring URLs

• Device type and operating system

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This information is collected through cookies and similar technologies used by our website platform for site functionality and basic traffic analytics. You may disable cookies in your browser settings, though some features of the site may not function properly as a result.

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1.2 Information You Provide Directly

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This Website includes a "Contact Us" form on our Contact page that collects your first name, last name, email address, and the message you submit. We use this information only to respond to your inquiry. If you contact the Department by email (for example, using the Fire Chief's email address listed on our Contact page) or by phone, we receive whatever information you choose to include in that communication.

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Employment applications for career and on-call firefighter positions are provided on this Website as downloadable PDF forms. These forms are not submitted through the Website; applicants complete and return them directly to the Department by mail, email, or in person. Information submitted as part of an employment application is used solely for hiring purposes and is retained in accordance with applicable municipal personnel recordkeeping requirements.

 

Certain other administrative functions referenced on this Website — including online fee and permit payments and emergency notification sign-up — are handled through the third-party channels identified in Section 4 below, rather than collected directly through this Website.

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2. HOW WE USE INFORMATION

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We use the information described above to:

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• Respond to inquiries submitted through our Contact Us form, by email, or by phone

• Process employment applications for career and on-call firefighter positions

• Maintain, secure, and improve the functionality of the Website

• Understand general website usage and traffic patterns

• Comply with applicable public records and other legal obligations

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We do not use information collected through this Website for advertising or marketing purposes, and we do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to third parties.

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3. PUBLIC RECORDS NOTICE

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The Westport Fire Department is a department of the Town of Westport, Massachusetts. Records created or received by the Department, including certain emails, contact form submissions, and written correspondence, may constitute "public records" under the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10, and may be subject to disclosure upon request regardless of any expectation of privacy. Please keep this in mind when submitting information to the Department through this Website or otherwise. This does not apply to protected health information contained in EMS/ambulance patient care records, which is separately protected under HIPAA and related state and federal law.

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4. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND LINKS

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This Website links to a number of services that are owned and operated independently of the Department. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices of these third parties, which include:

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• Online permitting: Fees and permits are processed through PermitEyes (permiteyes.us), an independent online permitting platform, subject to its own privacy practices. Open burning permits are excluded from the online system and must be obtained in person at either fire station.

• Emergency notifications (CodeRed): Residents may register for the Department's CodeRed emergency notification system, powered by OnSolve, to receive alerts by phone, text, or email. Registration is completed directly on OnSolve's platform, and the contact information you provide there (such as your name, address, phone number, and email) is collected and stored by OnSolve, subject to its own privacy policy, not this one.

• Utility outage maps: Links to the National Grid and Eversource outage maps direct you to those utilities' own websites, subject to their respective privacy policies.

• Department radio feed: A link to Broadcastify, an independent radio-streaming service, is provided for those who wish to listen to Department radio traffic, subject to Broadcastify's own privacy policy.

• Social media: Our Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts are operated on those respective platforms and are subject to their privacy policies, not this one.

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We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third-party sites and services before providing any personal information to them.

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5. COOKIES AND ANALYTICS

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This Website is built and hosted on the Wix platform, which may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the site and collect basic analytics. Our ability to modify certain aspects of this collection is limited, as it is provided by our third-party hosting platform.

 

6. DATA SECURITY

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We take reasonable steps to protect information transmitted through this Website, but no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. In the event of a data breach affecting personal information maintained by the Department, we will provide notification as required under the Massachusetts data breach notification law, M.G.L. c. 93H.

 

7. ACCESSIBILITY

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The Department and the Town of Westport are committed to ensuring this Website is accessible to all residents, including individuals with disabilities, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this site, please contact the Department using the information in Section 10.

 

8. EMERGENCY USE NOTICE

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This Website is not monitored 24 hours a day and is not a substitute for emergency services. If you have a fire, medical, or other emergency, dial 911 immediately. Do not use this Website, the Contact Us form, email, or social media to report an active emergency.

 

9. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY AND MINIMUM AGE

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This Website is not directed to children under the age of 13. Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and our Contact Us form should only be submitted by users who are at least 13 years old. Programs such as Westport Explorers, which involve youth participants, are administered directly by Department staff and are not enrolled or managed through this Website. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted personal information to us, please contact us for prompt deletion.

 

10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

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We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

 

11. CONTACT US

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Westport Fire Department

Station No. 1: 54 Hix Bridge Road, Westport, MA 02790

Station No. 2: 85 Briggs Road, Westport, MA 02790

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Phone: 508-636-1110

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Fire Chief Daniel K. Baldwin: chiefbaldwin@westport-ma.gov

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Website: westportfire.org

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Contact page: westportfire.org/contact