The Hamilton Fire Department (HFD) incident report website is back, after an almost 10-month outage following a cyberattack on the city.
The fire department launched the new HFD Incidents webpage Thursday morning. The website provides updates on emergency calls across the city. The website does not provide exact addresses and information is released on a time delay, to protect the privacy of callers.
We’re live! The new Hamilton Fire Department (HFD) Incidents Dashboard is here—get timely information on active incidents that the Hamilton Fire Department is responding to across the city. Access the dashboard now via https://t.co/DZzBCy6UVH pic.twitter.com/oYxyn7NLl9
— Hamilton Fire Department (@HamiltonFireDep) November 14, 2024
The HFD Incidents Twitter feed was an important tool for public information and a vital tool for Hamilton's news outlets, before it stopped posting on Feb. 25, 2024, when the city was hit with a ransomware attack that cost the city approximately $7.4 million in recovery and restoration.
The attack impacted services across the city, from bus schedules to property tax payments, and stalled committee and council meetings at city hall for weeks last winter.
“The launch of this Dashboard marks a key step in our efforts to build back stronger and better after the February cybersecurity incident,” said Marnie Cluckie, City Manager.
The new HFD Incidents dashboard is now its own web page and does not update to Twitter/X. The city says the new dashboard is a "secure, modernized platform for public safety information."
In the past, the HFD Incidents Twitter/X feed posted incidents in a Tweet, which remained in the feed. The new dashboard will update every five minutes, giving information on incident types, dispatched units and locations. After the call has been completed, the incident will be removed from the feed.
Calls to vulnerable locations will be excluded from the dashboard.
“The Hamilton Fire Department Incidents Dashboard demonstrates our commitment to timely and transparent communication with residents,” said Fire Chief David Cunliffe in the release.
