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Quick-start guide

Reading time: 10 minutes. First working incident: under 15 minutes from install.

Muster runs an active fire-ground incident from your iPad, phone, or laptop. This guide gets you from "just installed" to "first incident in the archive" without reading the rest of the documentation.

Testing Muster before your department goes live? Read tester_onboarding.md first — the tester flow uses a hand-minted License Key (not the self-service activation code path described here) and directs you to run drills in training mode.

Before you start

You need:

  • Muster installed on at least one device. iPad, Android tablet, iPhone, or a laptop (Windows / macOS / Linux). If you don't have Muster yet, see the installation section at the bottom.
  • A license — an Emergency 72-hour rapid-setup pass, Tier 1 (small volunteer departments), Tier 2 (mid-size departments and volunteer districts), or Tier 3 (career and large departments). All tiers work identically for safety features; the paid tiers add cloud archive, admin console, and long-term exposure retention. Tier details at muster.safesignals.io/pricing.
  • (Optional) A second device, on the same Wi-Fi. Muster's mesh sync works with as few as one device and as many as thirty.

1. Choose a role

When you open Muster with no active incident, you see the role picker:

What are you doing on scene?

  • Incident Commander — tablet or laptop only
  • Safety Officer — tablet-preferred, phone OK
  • Division Supervisor
  • Accountability Officer
  • Rehab Officer
  • Check-in Officer
  • Arriving Unit
  • Crew Member
  • Observer

Pick the one that matches your job. You can change it later. The role controls which screens and actions Muster shows you.

If you're not sure what to pick:

  • Running the incident? Incident Commander.
  • Monitoring safety, hazards, and evacuations? Safety Officer.
  • Just arriving in your rig and want to check in? Arriving Unit.
  • Working the fire on a crew, watching your air, want a Mayday button? Crew Member.
  • Watching without doing anything? Observer.

2. Start an incident

On the IC board, tap Start Incident. You'll see two big buttons:

🚨 REAL INCIDENT

🎓 TRAINING / DRILL

Tap REAL INCIDENT. (Training mode is covered in the training guide — it's segregated from real data at every level.)

Fill in:

  • Incident type — structure fire, MVA, MCI, hazmat, wildland, etc. The type controls which template shows on the whiteboard.
  • Address — where the incident is. Tap to enter or, on supported devices, share from your CAD.
  • Description — one or two sentences. What did dispatch call?

Tap Create. You are now the Incident Commander (until you transfer command).

3. Check units in

There are three ways to check units in:

Option A: units check themselves in. On their own phones, firefighters use the Arriving Unit role — three screens, and they're on the mesh. This is the fastest path for volunteer departments.

Option B: you check them in. From the IC board, tap the Check In action. Pick from the roster if they're your department, or type in a guest unit name and headcount for mutual aid.

Option C: a dedicated Check-in Officer runs intake. For larger incidents, one member with a phone handles nothing but check-ins from the Check-in Officer role.

Every option produces the same result: the unit appears on your IC board with its designation, crew size, and status.

4. Assign units to divisions

Divisions are how you organize crews on scene. Common ones for a structure fire:

  • Division A — the front (side A).
  • Division B, C, D — the other three sides.
  • Roof Division — vertical ventilation.
  • RIC (Rapid Intervention Crew) — the safety team ready to go in if someone Maydays.
  • Rehab — where crews go to cool down and get vitals checked.

Tap Add Division, pick from the list (or type a custom name), and optionally assign a supervisor. Then drag units onto the division.

At any point, tap a division to see which units are working there and how long they've been on task.

5. Request a PAR

PAR — Personnel Accountability Report — is how you confirm that every unit is accounted for. NFPA 1550 wants one every 20 minutes and at every strategic change.

Tap Request PAR on the IC board. Every unit's device shows a prompt: "IC is asking for PAR. Confirm your crew count." Supervisors tap through the confirmation. As each unit reports, you see a green checkmark on your IC board.

If a unit doesn't respond within your PAR window, that unit appears red. Investigate before continuing operations.

6. Handle a Mayday (if it happens)

The Mayday button is on every device, on every screen, at all times.

On a phone (Crew Member view): press and hold the Mayday button for 2 seconds. This prevents accidental presses.

On a tablet (IC / Division Supervisor / ISO): the Mayday control has a confirmation dialog with the firefighter's name and last known location.

The moment Mayday fires, every mesh device shows an audible, non-silenceable alert for 10 seconds. Muster automatically:

  • Locks the IC board's Mayday panel open with the affected personnel highlighted.
  • Prompts an immediate PAR for every other unit.
  • Blocks termination of the incident until the Mayday is resolved.

Resolve the Mayday by tapping the Mayday entry and choosing one of: Resolved – safe, Resolved – serious, or False alarm with a required note.

7. Terminate and archive

When the incident is over:

  1. Tap Terminate. Muster runs through a checklist:
    • Any unresolved Mayday? (Hard block — must resolve first.)
    • Any active evacuation? (Hard block — must re-enter or explicitly abandon.)
    • Open PARs? Active assignments? Active rehab? (Warnings, not blocks — the IC acknowledges and continues.)
    • Active hazards, unacknowledged exposures? (Warnings.)
  2. Add a narrative. A few sentences on what happened. This ends up in the after-action PDF.
  3. Review the timeline. Correct any errors — corrections are additive events, so the original record is preserved.
  4. Finalize. Muster generates the .muster archive (the authoritative record) and the after-action PDF. If you're on Tier 2 or higher, both sync to your admin console.

You now have a complete, signed record of the incident.

Installation

If you don't have Muster yet, which install path applies depends on how you got here.

If you're a tester in the pre-live cohort

Safe Signals added your email to the TestFlight (iOS / iPadOS) or Play Store internal-test (Android) distribution list. Check your email for the invite.

  • iOS / iPadOS: accept the TestFlight invite → install via the TestFlight app.
  • Android: accept the Play Store internal-test invite → install via Play Store.

Desktop testing (macOS, Windows, Linux) is not part of the current test cohort. If your test plan calls for desktop, contact support@safesignals.io — Safe Signals will invite desktop testers separately when that surface needs validation.

If you're a self-service customer

Muster is available from the standard app stores + a signed-installer download path for desktop platforms.

  • iOS / iPadOS: Muster is on the App Store. Search "Muster fire ground accountability" or visit [muster.safesignals.io/download].
  • Android: on Google Play, same search.
  • macOS: notarized .app from releases.safesignals.io or the Mac App Store.
  • Windows: Muster ships in two installer formats — an MSIX from the Microsoft Store, or a signed Inno Setup .exe from releases.safesignals.io for departments doing sideload deployment via Group Policy.
  • Linux: raw bundle from releases.safesignals.io; AppImage and .deb when demand justifies.

First-time activation depends on which flow you're on:

If you're a self-service customer

You bought Muster via muster.safesignals.io and Stripe Checkout emailed you a License Key with a one-click activation link.

  1. Open the activation link from your welcome email on the device where you installed Muster. The app opens directly into a pre-filled activation screen and completes.
  2. If the link doesn't work (corporate email rewriting the URL, wrong browser, etc.):
    • Open Muster.
    • Tap Activate License Key.
    • Paste the License Key from the welcome email into the dialog. Tap Activate.
  3. Muster stores your License Key locally and starts working. You do not need to re-authenticate for 30 days, plus 30 days grace.

You can also enroll additional devices without a fresh welcome email — an already-activated device can generate a short single-use enrollment QR under Settings → Share license (QR) that a new device scans.

If you're a tester in the pre-live cohort

Safe Signals hand-mints your License Key directly and emails it to you (no Stripe Checkout, no self-service link).

  1. Accept your TestFlight (iOS) or Play Store internal-test (Android) invitation. Install via those channels.
  2. Open Muster on your device.
  3. Tap Paste a License Key on the activation screen.
  4. Paste the License Key line from your Safe Signals email (starts with eyJ..., three period-separated segments). Tap Activate.
  5. Muster stores your License Key locally and starts working.

See tester_onboarding.md for the full tester flow including what department is pre-provisioned, which drills to run, and how to send diagnostic logs to support@safesignals.io when you hit bugs.

  • Full user guide — every screen, every action, every setting.
  • Training guide — running drills without contaminating your real incident data.
  • How it works — Muster's architecture, mesh sync, event sourcing.
  • NFPA 1550 compliance mapping — which Muster features align with which chapters, for AHJ auditors.

When something goes wrong

The most common questions:

  • Can't find peers on the mesh. Both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi. If your station Wi-Fi blocks multicast, enable one device as a hotspot and have the others join it. QR bootstrap (Settings → Peer Mesh → Show pairing QR) also works.
  • App is stuck on activation. Muster needs internet for activation. Once activated, it works offline for 60 days.
  • Missed an update mid-incident. Muster does not force updates during active incidents. Update after termination.

For more, see the troubleshooting section in the full user guide or email support@safesignals.io.