Social Media House Rules

Our social media channels are not monitored 24/7 - if you ever need to report an emergency please call 999.

We love engaging with our public and the most effective way to do this is through our social media channels. We use our social media to support us in our role to warn and inform our public. We also use our channels to educate, engage and support our campaigns as well as answer general queries from our public. This means you’ll see a variety of different topics and content from us and our partners.

We encourage engagement through our channels and we're here to help in any way that we can, but we expect users to offer us the same level of courtesy that we offer them. We want our social media channels to be safe spaces and a place for healthy, open and insightful discussion, which is why we have a set of house rules:

All users must comply with the social media platform's Terms of Use as well as our own terms of use.
Remember that although you are talking to an organisation, real people are on the other side of the platform. Please treat them with kindness. If you are angry about something it’s unlikely to be their fault - please do not take your frustration out on them.
We will remove posts that we feel are inappropriate, or discriminatory against any individual or group.
You are wholly responsible for any content you post including content that you choose to share.
Unreasonable demands may not be met - this includes demanding responses within an unreasonable timescale or constant requests for lots of information

We will remove messages and/or disable comments (where function allows) including reporting and/or blocking users on our social media channels who post messages at us which we believe are:

Abusive or obscene
Deceptive, misleading or spreading misinformation or disinformation
In violation of any intellectual property rights, including copyright
In violation of any law or regulation
Spam and off-topic content (persistent negative and/or abusive posts in which the aim is to provoke a response)
Promotional material, including links to external websites and promotions

Anyone repeatedly engaging with us using content or language which falls into the above categories will be blocked and/or reported to the associated social media platform. We will not tolerate or respond to abusive messages.

Please let us know if you think any of the comments on our social media channels violate these house rules by emailing webmaster@essex-fire.gov.uk sending us a message or reporting them to the relevant platform directly.

Who we are and what to expect from us

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service’s Corporate Marketing, Brand and Communication team is responsible for managing the main corporate accounts.

Please remember that monitoring and responding to social media is not our full time role. Although we aim to monitor our main social media platforms 365 days a year, our core office hours are between 9am and 4pm GMT, Monday to Friday, excluding UK national holidays.

We aim to respond to all enquiries as quickly as possible, but some enquiries can take longer to resolve or we’ll need to pass on your details to another department.

Fire station Facebook accounts are usually managed by at least one firefighter from that fire station, with oversight and support from the Corporate Communications, Marketing and Brand team. These pages are monitored less frequently. If you require a prompt response we suggest you contact us via our corporate account.

Our official accounts

We have accounts across several social media platforms, but if you are ever unsure an account is real, please refer to the information below for our main official profiles and their links/handles.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ecfrs

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ecfrs_fitness

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ECFRS

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecfrs

YouTube - https://youtube.com/@ecfrs

Next Door - https://nextdoor.co.uk/agency/essex-county-fire-and-rescue-service/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ECFRS/