The Novato Fire District maintains a social media program for the purpose of:

• Engaging and interacting with our community.
• Providing relevant and timely community news, information, and events.
• Distributing fire prevention and public safety tips.
• Sharing urgent notifications of critical incidents that may affect residents, business owners, and visitors.
• Connecting with individuals interested in the Novato Fire District.

Accordingly, posts or comments made to any social media platform used by the District should be confined to furtherance of these objectives, and not contain any inappropriate content or material, as defined below.

All social media platforms used by the Novato Fire District are designated as Limited Public Forums. We welcome your right to express your opinion and encourage you to keep comments relevant to the topic at hand. Posting any content on any Novato Fire District social media platform constitutes acceptance of these terms of use.

Social media platform: Any website or app offered to the public for audio, video, still-photo, or written communication between other members of the public and/or representatives of the Novato Fire District. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor, YouTube, website blogs with commenting capabilities, forums, and emergency notification services.

Content: Any written copy, photos, graphics, videos, live-video streams, comments, or any form of communicative content exchanged between parties.

Posting requests for assistance, regardless of urgency, is discouraged and will not guarantee a response from the Novato Fire District or any emergency service provider. In case of an emergency, or if you need immediate assistance, please call 911. For non-emergencies, you can contact the Novato Fire District at 415-878-2690.

Following or liking the Novato Fire District, or any officer or employee of the Novato Fire District, does not constitute an endorsement of that person's actions or comments.

Comments posted by the public are the opinion of the commenter only and do not imply endorsement or agreement by the Novato Fire District.

The Novato Fire District's social media platforms are intended to be family-friendly. We use platform-provided moderation/filtering tools to limit offensive content. We actively monitor our platforms and will remove inappropriate content as defined below, without prior notice and as soon as possible. We reserve the right to remove and/or block anyone who posts inappropriate material, which may include:

• Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments
• Profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language
• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination based on any personal characteristic
• Defamatory or personal attacks
• Threats to any person or organization
• Comments in support of or opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures
• Solicitation of commerce
• Conduct in violation of any local, state, or federal law
• Encouragement of illegal activity
• Information that may compromise public safety or security
• Content that violates copyright or other legal ownership interests
• Harassment or stalking
• Content that violates privacy rights
• Encouragement of violence
• Repetitive content
• Comments that may interfere with law enforcement investigations, police tactics, responses to incidents, or the safety of personnel
• Posts or comments containing external links
• We do not allow posting of photos or videos by anyone other than members of the Novato Fire District.

The Novato Fire District reserves the right to deny access to its social media platforms to anyone who violates these terms of use, at any time and without prior notice.

The Novato Fire District is not responsible for the terms of service or content of any third-party platforms used to access our social media pages. Please refer to the individual platform's terms of use for more information.

The Novato Fire District reserves the right to update these terms of use at any time. We will post any changes on this page.

If you have any questions about these terms of use, please contact us at socialmedia@novatofire.org  or 415-878-2608.