Mutual aid drills
Last updated September 19, 2026
Two departments that both use this software can train together without either one spending guest joins. They link once, and after that either can open a drill to the other.
Linking with another department#
Open the Department tab and find Mutual aid.
- One admin presses Create a code to send and sends the code to the other department's admin, by whatever means they normally use.
- The other admin types it into Enter a code you were sent and presses Link.
Both departments now list each other. A code works once, lasts 14 days, and is shown only when it is created: if it is lost, create another.
There is no directory to search and no list of departments to pick from. A link exists only because two admins agreed to it.
Either department can end link at any time. Past drills and the training hours already earned are kept. Ending a link also cancels any code created before it that has not been used yet, so an old code cannot put the link back. To link again, create a new code.
Opening a drill#
When you create a drill, or schedule one, Allow mutual aid appears beneath Allow guest joins once you have a linked department. It is off unless you turn it on, drill by drill.
| Allow guest joins | Allow mutual aid | |
|---|---|---|
| Who comes in | Anyone with the code | Members of a linked department |
| How they find it | You read them the code | It is on their own Sessions tab |
| Uses guest joins | Yes | No |
| Who they are in the drill | A guest, by the name they type | Themselves, shown with their department |
| Training hours | None recorded | On their own department's record |
With it on, the linked department's members see the drill on their Sessions tab, marked Hosted by your department, and join without a code. A scheduled drill shows there ahead of time the same way. They see the drill's name, the time, the type and your note. They never see which scenario you chose.
With it off, the other department does not see the drill at all. A signed-in member of another department who has the code is treated as a guest: they get in only if guest joins are on, and they count as one.
An admins-only scenario cannot be loaded into a drill that is open to mutual aid. Create that drill with Allow mutual aid off. For the same reason, a scenario cannot be made admins-only while it is loaded in a running drill that is open to mutual aid: end that drill first. A planned drill whose scenario becomes admins-only stops being shown to the linked department.
In the drill#
Visiting members appear in the participant list with their department's name. They are listed after your own members and before guests. The instructor of the department running the drill runs it. A visiting instructor or admin takes part as a participant, with a participant's view of the drill and of its review.
Scored evaluations stay inside your department: you evaluate your own members, and a visiting member is not listed for evaluation.
Afterward#
Visiting members can open the drill's review, the same as anyone who was in it.
Their time goes on their own department's training record, labeled with your department's name. See Training hours.
When a link is paused#
A link works while both departments have an active plan. If one lapses, the link shows as paused: neither side sees the other's drills, and it wakes by itself when the plan is active again. Nothing has to be set up twice.