Does First Come First Served work on Twitter?

The Austin Fire Department is not happy with @AustinFire. @AustinFire is the twitter username for and UNOFFICIAL Austin Fire Department twitter account. Maybe this is a reason to be proactive in publicizing your department.

The account states:

  • Name Austin Fire CAD
  • Bio Austin Fire Department will tweet all major accidents, rescues, structure fires, and any call requiring 3+ units. *Run by @paulvx and @ghawi (non official)

According to a news article, the twitter user has not done anything wrong…

Spokeswoman Michelle DeCrane said the user on the social networking site was posting information readily available on the department’s web site about calls firefighters were responding to. However, DeCrane said department officials objected to the user using the department’s logo and name. Read More

It seems to me that the Austin Fire Department needs to get “@austinfiredepartment” and move on.

As for the use of  the Austin FD logo, @ghawi states that it was removed within 5 minutes of initial contact.

Reminder…you can follow the Fire Critic on Twitter here: @FireCritic