Incident response

Building the response team

Request additional responders during an incident and track their decisions.

Use an assistance request when an incident needs another person without changing the on-call schedule or the incident’s paging plan.

Before you begin

You need an active incident and permission to operate it in the web console or mobile app. The invitee must already exist as an enabled responder . To receive and answer the invitation on iPhone or iPad, the responder also needs an authorized WarnFire build installed and signed in .

Send a resource request

Requests can be created from the web incident workspace or the mobile app.

In the web incident workspace:

1. Open the incident.
2. Select Add resource.
3. In Build the response team, choose a target:
   • A specific responder.
   • The responder currently on call for a team.
   • A tiger team, when the whole group should receive the request.
4. Choose the requested role and add a message explaining what is needed.
5. Select Send resource request.

In the mobile app:

1. Open the incident and select Response.
2. Select + Invite.
3. Choose a responder or on-call team, select the requested role, and explain why their help is needed.
4. Select Send invitation.

For a team target, WarnFire resolves who is on call when the request is sent. This avoids relying on a copied name that may be out of date.

The target needs an active push-enabled WarnFire device. If WarnFire cannot reach one, the request is not created. Ask the responder to sign in to the mobile app and enable notifications, then send the request again.

Answer on iPhone or iPad

The push notification opens the authenticated invitation brief for the exact request when the app is in the foreground, background, or fully closed. Pending requests also appear under You’re needed on the Status tab.

The brief includes the incident summary and status, severity, source, requester, requested role, target team, and request message. The responder can choose:

• Join incident now
• In 15m, In 30m, or In 60m
• Decline request

After joining, the responder can reopen the brief and choose Leave incident. Each decision is recorded on the incident.

Track the response team

The web incident workspace shows requests and joined responders under Resources. The incident activity record shows who was requested, the response, any commitment time, and when a responder later left.

When Slack war rooms are enabled, a responder who accepts an assistance request is also added to the incident channel when WarnFire can match that person to Slack.

What assistance does not change

Assistance is additive:

• It does not modify a schedule or create an on-call override.
• It does not replace the responder who acknowledged.
• It does not pause or rewrite the incident’s frozen escalation plan.
• A commitment such as In 30m is visible context, not an automatic acknowledgement.

Verify it worked

1. Open the incident’s Resources view and confirm that the request names the intended responder or team, role, and message.
2. On the invitee’s device, confirm that the assistance notification opens the same incident and request.
3. Have the invitee choose a response and confirm that the decision and any commitment time appear in the web incident workspace and activity record.
4. If the responder joins, confirm that they appear in the incident’s response team without changing the acknowledged owner or escalation plan.

Next steps

• Configure a Slack war room when joined responders should also enter an incident channel.
• Request cover or offer a shift swap when the goal is to change future paging responsibility instead of adding help to an active incident.