TalkBeam for Fire & rescue
TalkBeam is a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app that gives fire departments a second, phone-based channel for station operations, recall, training and logistics, with a live member map and searchable transcripts, alongside the P25 radios you keep for the fireground.
Please note: TalkBeam complements, and doesn’t replace, your mission-critical LMR/P25 radios. Keep fireground, dispatch and interoperability traffic on your radio system, and use TalkBeam for everything around it.
CH 01The problem
Your radio system is for emergencies. A lot of what crosses it every day isn’t, and a lot of what your members need never reaches them.
Fuel runs, station logistics and “can someone pick up the part for the ice machine” end up on talkgroups that should stay clear.
With TalkBeam
Move the non-emergency traffic to TalkBeam channels for each station, apparatus or division, and keep your talkgroups for incidents.
Paging reaches pagers, but sorting out who’s actually coming turns into a flurry of calls and texts.
With TalkBeam
An all-call reaches every member’s phone at once, members answer on the channel, and the officer hears who’s responding.
Crews are at training, on inspections, on a detail or back at quarters, and finding them takes a radio call.
With TalkBeam
The live map shows members who are sharing their location, so the duty officer can see who’s at the station and who’s out.
Rehab, logistics and public information staff at a long operation or a large event are hard to reach from far away.
With TalkBeam
Support staff stay on the same TalkBeam channel over cellular data, without taking up a tactical talkgroup.
Training days and details run through extreme heat and summer storms.
With TalkBeam
Automated broadcasts read heat, thunderstorm and severe weather warnings aloud on your channels.
After-action reviews and training write-ups depend on memory and scattered notes.
With TalkBeam
Every TalkBeam transmission becomes searchable text. Enterprise adds retention and CSV export.
CH 02A day on TalkBeam
A combination department runs a live-fire training day with two stations still in service. Tactical traffic stays on the county P25 system; everything else runs on TalkBeam.
On Monday the training officer searches “rehab” in the transcripts to write up the after-action notes. The county talkgroups stayed clear all day.
Illustrative scenario. People, places and times are made up; the features are real.
All members: training starts at 0800 at the burn building. Rehab is in the north bay. Hydrate before you gear up.
Engine 2 crew is ten minutes out with the extra SCBA bottles.
Heat index at the training grounds is 104°F. Drink water every 15 minutes, rest in the shade and watch each other for signs of heat illness.
Rehab rotation every 20 minutes, starting now. Company officers, confirm on this channel.
Ladder 1 copies, rotating now.
Chief, Station 1 is short a driver for B shift tomorrow. Can you cover the move-up?
CH 03What you get
Everything a two-way radio does, on the phone, headset or vehicle your people already have, plus the things a radio never could.
A channel per crew, site, shift or job, and the people who need each one. Supervisors can sit on all of them.
Supervisors cut through the chatter mid-sentence, or reach every channel at once with one hold.
See everyone who’s sharing their location on one map, and who’s talking right now.
Private one-to-one talk for the conversation that shouldn’t go to the whole channel, still kept in company transcripts.
Severe weather warnings, thunderstorms, earthquakes, air quality and extreme heat near your sites or crews, read aloud on your channels automatically.
Every transmission becomes text with a time and a name, so anyone can scroll back or search what was said.
Talk through AirPods, a Bluetooth or wired headset, Ray-Ban or Oakley Meta glasses, Apple Watch, CarPlay or the phone itself.
People sign in with their Okta, Microsoft or Google work account.
Features marked Enterprise are part of the Enterprise plan. TalkBeam isn’t an emergency service and doesn’t contact 911.
CH 04Plans
Both start with a 14-day free trial for up to 50 people. No credit card.
$8per person / month
or $6 billed yearly · 5–50 people
Fits a volunteer or combination department of 5 to 50 members that wants station channels, recall all-call, the member map and transcripts.
$15per person / month
billed yearly · 25+ people · $13 from 100 · custom from 500
For larger departments and districts: single sign-on for your staff directory, automated weather and heat broadcasts, lone-worker check-ins for inspectors and fire marshals, an audit log and transcript retention.
Weighing it against your radios? Compare three years of costs, or read the 30-day radio replacement playbook.
2:31
CH 05See it in action
In our 2½-minute demo, a fictional ambulance company dispatches with an all-call, reroutes a crew over private direct talk, hears a flood warning read aloud in every unit and reviews it all in the transcripts. Every feature in it is real.
Or try the demo company yourself. In the TalkBeam app, open Me → Company and enter this code:
HCEMS247
TalkBeam for iPhone is in early access. Get early access.
CH 06FAQ
No. TalkBeam complements your mission-critical radios; it doesn’t replace them. Keep fireground, dispatch and interoperability traffic on your radio system. TalkBeam depends on cellular data or Wi-Fi and a charged phone, and it isn’t a public-safety radio system.
Station and apparatus logistics, member recall, training days, inspections and prevention, special events and command staff coordination: the traffic that doesn’t belong on tactical talkgroups.
Yes. Members install TalkBeam on their iPhone (Android is coming soon on Google Play) and join with your 8-character company code. You can remove anyone from the company console when they leave.
No. TalkBeam works with Bluetooth headsets, AirPods, Apple Watch and CarPlay, and Hybrid mode opens the mic with one tap and closes it with another.
No. TalkBeam isn’t an emergency service. SOS alerts the people in the channels you choose, with the member’s location.
Teams is $8 per person per month, or $6 billed yearly, for 5 to 50 people. Enterprise is $15 per person per month billed yearly, from 25 people. Both start with a 14-day free trial.
Try TalkBeam free for 14 days with up to 50 people. No credit card, and no radios to buy.