Active911 alerts to Facebook



Adding Active911 alerts to Facebook Page using webhooks.

Updated: 03/20/2019

You can use to post Active911 alerts to your Fire Departments facebook page. For examples see

Active911 has added the ability to use webhooks as an interface () to . The old system of posting A911 run information to a Facebook page made use of RSS news services. Originally IFTTT checked for updated RSS info often so updates to the FB page were made pretty quickly. As the IFTTT system use has grown, the time to post has extended to where it now often takes hours before the run information is posted to FB. The new webhooks interface seems to post faster than the RSS method since it's a triggered event and not waiting for IFTTT to get around to reading the news feed, though still not always realtime. So far it has take from a minute to 45 minutes to post for me.

The following are instructions to create an IFTTT applet that will post the title of your Active 911 call to your departments Facebook page. This sample posts only the title and time of the call, though the call notes are also available to share if you desire.

The text shown on the FB page can be similar to:

Responding to a MEDICAL EMERGENCY call on March 17, 2019 at 07:42AM

Note that if you send Active 911 alerts other than runs from your CAD system - such as training alerts sent from the app, these will show on your facebook page. The information for ANY alert sent via A911 will be shown on FB.

Setup:

You will need to be signed into your departments Facebook page as an admin in another browser window when you set up this app for your department on . If you do not have admin rights under your facebook ID to the Department Facebook page, you will need to obtain them before proceeding.

In a browser window, logon to , go to member access, then agency tab.

In another browser window, sign into Facebook with your FB user name (must have admin rights to FD FB page) and go to Fire Department's page, and leave this up in the background.

In a third browser window, Create an account on

On the IFTTT page, click the services tab and search for the webhooks service. Go through the steps to add the webhooks service and when complete, copy the unique user ID provided at the end of the URL. It will look something like 'cUSEsWRUdm9QzNVH0Gye56'.

Back in the A911 browser window, under the agency tab, go to Integrations at the bottom of the page and select add new integration. Select If This Then That as the service and paste replacing the string of characters at the end with your unique user id copied from the webhooks setup above, then click Add. The new integration should now show at the bottom of the A911 agency page.

Back on the IFTTT webpage, go back to services and add the Facebook Pages service. Be sure you are logged into your department FB page as an admin in another window.

Assuming both the webhooks and FB pages services were added ok on the IFTTT website, go to the IFTTT browser window, go to my applets at the top of the page and then click on 'New Applpet' in top right corner.

Click on the + in front of this and search for the webhooks service.

Click on the blue box that says 'Receive a web request'

Enter 'Active911' in the Event Name box and click 'Create trigger'

Click the + in front of that and

and search for the 'facebook pages' service and click on it.

Choose the 'Create a status message' box

Enter your status message using the 'Add ingredient' button to stick values into your text. When done, click 'Create action'.

I use 'Responding to a {{Value2}} call on {{OccurredAt}}.' which shows on the FB page as Responding to a MEDICAL EMERGENCY call on March 17, 2019 at 07:42AM.

The possible ingredient values are:

OccurredAt = date time stamp of A911 call

Value1 = Active 911 call ID

Value2 = Active 911 call Title

Value3 = Active 911 call Notes

EventName = 'Active911'

Click 'Finish' to complete your applet. The applet should show under 'My Applets' as enabled. Now wait for your next call through A911 and see if it posts to your FB page.

Note: IFTTT will only allow a user to connect to one Facebook page. If for some reason you need to post to multiple pages, you’ll have to create separate IFTTT accounts for each.

Note: The same basic procedure can be used with other IFTTT services than 'FB Pages' to share A911 information in other ways such as email, text, twitter, FB messenger, Groupme, among many others. I expect you can cause your Hue lights to flash red or open your blinds or many other strange things with a little effort if desired. Just replace the FB pages action in IFTTT with whatever other action service you need and configure the service.

If you find errors or omissions in this document or procedure, I can be reached via messages to the Piney Point Fire Dept FB page (pineypointfd) or the department email. Can't promise a quick reply since this isn't my day job, but will do what I can.

Ken Zey

Piney Point Fire Department

22050 E Hwy 12

Rogers, AR 72756

pineypointfire@

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