Privacy Policy

Avoca Hose Co. No. 1, also known as the Avoca Fire Department or Station 112, is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit fire company at 740 Main Street, Avoca, PA 18641. This policy covers this website and the Avoca FD app for our members. Questions about it go to avocahoseco@gmail.com or (570) 457-2894.

We only collect what you give us or what we need to run the department:

• Contact form: your name, email, optional phone number and message.
• Accounts: your name, email address and password (stored by our sign-in provider, never by us in readable form), and, if you choose to add them, a phone number and street address. Your address lets us credit fund-drive gifts to your household.
• Donations: card and PayPal payments are handled by the payment processor (PayPal, and Stripe once card giving is turned on). We never see or store your card number. We keep a record of each gift (name, email, amount, date and fund-drive address) for our treasurer and tax records.
• Members app and members area (members only): your membership role, training and event attendance, truck check results you submit, and the recovery email you confirm when you first sign in with a username.
• Dispatch information (members only): the county's closed-out dispatch reports for calls we respond to, so members can review them. These are shared only with signed-in members.

We do not use advertising or analytics trackers, and we do not build profiles of visitors. The website does not ask for your location.

The home page shows our most recent call and a count of calls this year. For each call we publish only the general type of call (for example “EMS Assist” or “Vehicle Fire”), the street name without a house number, the town, which of our units responded, and the dispatch time. We never publish names, house numbers, patient or medical details, or the dispatcher's notes, and we only receive a call after it has been closed out.

• To answer your messages and questions.
• To run your account, keep it secure and help you recover it.
• To process and acknowledge donations and keep the financial records the law requires.
• To run the department: truck checks, training records, scheduling and call reviews.

We do not sell or rent your information. We share it only with:

• Service providers that host and run the site and app for us: Google (Firebase hosting, sign-in, database and file storage) and our payment processors (PayPal and Stripe).
• Embedded content: our news and events come from our Facebook page, and the Contact page shows a Google map. When you view these, Facebook or Google may receive your browser's information under their own privacy policies.
• When required by law, such as a subpoena, or to protect someone's safety.

The site and app store a small amount of information on your device only to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. Embedded Facebook and Google content may set their own cookies.

• Your account and profile are kept until you delete them.
• Contact messages are kept as long as needed to respond, and then deleted periodically.
• Donation records are kept for at least seven years for tax and audit purposes, even after an account is deleted.
• Membership, training and truck check records are department records and are kept per our record policies.

You can delete your account at any time:

• On the website: sign in, go to My account, and choose Delete account.
• In the Avoca FD app: open Account and choose Delete account.
• By email: ask at avocahoseco@gmail.com from the email address on the account, and we will delete it within 30 days.

Deleting removes your sign-in and your profile (name, phone and address). Donation records are kept as described above, and department records (such as training attendance or truck checks a member submitted) stay with the department.

You can view and update your name, phone and address on your account page at any time. To get a copy of the information we hold about you, or to correct something you can't change yourself, contact us.

Information is sent over encrypted connections and stored with Google's cloud services. Access is limited by role: only signed-in members can see members-only information, and only department administrators can manage accounts. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password and tell us right away if you think your account has been misused.

This website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information online. Junior firefighter applications are handled through our membership process with a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

If we change this policy, we will post the new version here and update the date at the top.

Avoca Hose Co. No. 1, 740 Main Street, Avoca, PA 18641. Email avocahoseco@gmail.com or call (570) 457-2894.