Personally Identifiable Information Disclosure

This disclosure is provided pursuant to 74 O.S. § 3106.4, the Oklahoma Government Website Information Act. The statute requires a public body that collects personally identifiable data to make available on its website what personally identifiable data is stored, how that data is stored, and with whom that data is shared.

Personally Identifiable Data That May Be Stored

The Spavinaw Fire Department and the Town of Spavinaw may collect, receive, create, maintain, or store personally identifiable information in connection with applicants, firefighters, officers, employees, volunteers, contractors, vendors, members of the public, emergency incidents, administrative activities, and other lawful municipal or fire department operations.

Personally identifiable information stored by the Department may include, but is not limited to:

Full legal name, former names, aliases, and other identifying names;
Date of birth, age, and place of birth;
Home, mailing, or other addresses;
Telephone numbers and email addresses;
Social Security numbers;
Driver license numbers and copies or images of driver licenses;
State, federal, tribal, military, or other government-issued identification numbers and copies of identification documents;
Photographs, identification photographs, scanned images, and other images associated with an individual;
Signatures and signed forms;
Sex or gender information when collected for an authorized governmental, personnel, pension, reporting, or operational purpose;
Employment, volunteer, appointment, rank, position, duty, and service-history information;
Dates of hire, appointment, promotion, separation, resignation, termination, or other personnel actions;
Training, education, licenses, certifications, qualifications, testing, and competency records;
Fire department membership and prior fire-service history;
Personnel scheduling, availability, attendance, assignment, response, and activity information;
Payroll, reimbursement, pension, retirement, benefit, or other employment-related information when applicable;
Emergency contact, spouse, dependent, and family information when required for an authorized purpose;
Background-check authorizations, background-check reports, criminal-history information, driving-history information, court records, and other screening or investigative material;
Information concerning convictions, pending legal matters, probation, court-ordered obligations, or other legally required disciplinary status when lawfully collected;
Information concerning licenses, cards, credentials, permits, qualifications, or legal eligibility relevant to employment, volunteer service, or public-safety duties;
Applicant answers, declarations, certifications, acknowledgments, consents, and screening responses;
Supporting documents provided by an applicant or obtained or created by an authorized administrator, including background reports, identification scans, photographs, correspondence, reports, and related evidence;
Records concerning complaints, investigations, disciplinary matters, performance, safety, workplace conduct, or administrative review when applicable;
Medical, fitness-for-duty, injury, workers' compensation, occupational-health, or similar information when lawfully received or maintained for an authorized purpose;
Emergency incident information that is linked or linkable to an individual, which may include an incident address, age, sex, contact information, statements, or other identifying information contained in an official record;
Information received from law enforcement agencies, courts, public bodies, pension or retirement systems, emergency medical services, insurers, background-screening providers, or other authorized sources;
System account identifiers, firefighter call signs, access records, audit logs, device information, network information, and other security or authentication-related records associated with an individual;
Records relating to use of Department systems, websites, forms, applications, equipment, vehicles, apparatus, facilities, or other municipal resources;
Correspondence, written statements, reports, forms, attachments, and other records that contain information linked or linkable to an individual; and
Other information that identifies, describes, relates to, or can reasonably be linked to a particular individual and that is lawfully collected or maintained in connection with Department or Town operations.

Under 74 O.S. § 3106.4, personally identifiable data includes information capable of identifying an individual, including information that is linked or linkable to that individual.

How Personally Identifiable Data Is Stored

Personally identifiable information may be stored, but is not limited to being stored, in the following forms and locations:

Electronic databases and information systems used by the Town of Spavinaw or Spavinaw Fire Department;
Secured servers and private server-side storage locations;
Access-controlled administrative systems that require authentication and authorization;
Electronic documents, scanned records, images, reports, and attachments maintained in private storage locations that are not intended for direct public web access;
Encrypted database fields or encrypted records where encryption is used for particularly sensitive information;
System backups, archival copies, disaster-recovery media, and other authorized backup systems;
Authorized third-party systems or service-provider platforms used for legitimate municipal or Department operations; and
Paper files or other physical records maintained in secured locations when paper records are required or appropriate.

Access to personally identifiable information is restricted according to job duties, authorization, operational need, and applicable law. Security controls may include role-based access, authentication, logging, restricted database permissions, private file storage, encryption of sensitive information, and other administrative, technical, and physical safeguards.

How Personally Identifiable Data Is Used

Personally identifiable information may be used for lawful governmental and fire department purposes. Such purposes may include, but are not limited to:

Processing and reviewing applications for employment, appointment, membership, or volunteer service;
Conducting or documenting background checks, eligibility reviews, credential verification, and other pre-service screening;
Administering firefighter, employee, volunteer, or personnel records;
Managing training, qualifications, certifications, assignments, scheduling, attendance, and operational readiness;
Administering pension, retirement, payroll, reimbursement, insurance, workers' compensation, or benefit-related matters;
Preparing, maintaining, reviewing, or submitting legally required reports, forms, applications, or records;
Investigating complaints, incidents, safety matters, policy violations, or other administrative matters;
Managing emergency-response, incident-reporting, public-safety, records-management, and municipal operations;
Protecting Department systems, accounts, facilities, equipment, records, and users;
Responding to audits, litigation, subpoenas, warrants, court orders, lawful records requests, or other legal obligations; and
Other lawful functions of the Town of Spavinaw or Spavinaw Fire Department.

With Whom Personally Identifiable Data May Be Shared

Personally identifiable information is not made available merely because it is maintained by the Department. Disclosure depends upon the nature of the record, the purpose of the disclosure, applicable confidentiality requirements, and federal, state, and local law.

Personally identifiable information may be shared with, but is not limited to, the following persons or entities when authorized, required, or reasonably necessary for a lawful governmental purpose:

Authorized Town of Spavinaw officials, officers, employees, trustees, and administrative personnel;
Authorized Spavinaw Fire Department officers, administrators, employees, and personnel;
Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System and other pension, retirement, payroll, benefit, or governmental administrative entities;
Federal, state, county, municipal, tribal, or other governmental bodies and agencies;
Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts, correctional agencies, and other criminal-justice entities when authorized or required by law;
Background-check providers, records providers, credential-verification services, or similar entities used for authorized screening or verification;
Emergency medical services, hospitals, public-safety agencies, dispatch centers, mutual-aid organizations, and other emergency-response entities when necessary for an authorized operational purpose;
Insurance carriers, workers' compensation administrators, claims administrators, legal counsel, auditors, accountants, or other professional service providers acting for the Town or Department;
Information-technology, hosting, backup, communications, software, cybersecurity, or other service providers that are authorized to process or maintain information on behalf of the Town or Department;
Regulatory, licensing, certification, oversight, or auditing authorities;
Persons or entities identified in a valid subpoena, court order, warrant, legal demand, statutory requirement, or other lawful process;
The individual to whom the information relates or a person lawfully authorized to act on that individual's behalf; and
The public when disclosure is required by the Oklahoma Open Records Act or other applicable law, subject to any required or permitted withholding, redaction, confidentiality protection, or exemption.

The existence of a record in a Town or Fire Department system does not mean that the record is publicly releasable. Records are reviewed for applicable confidentiality provisions, exemptions, and required redactions before disclosure when such review is required by law.

Sources of Personally Identifiable Data

Personally identifiable information maintained by the Department may be obtained from, but is not limited to, the following sources:

The individual to whom the information relates;
Applications, forms, documents, correspondence, and records submitted by an applicant, firefighter, employee, volunteer, contractor, or member of the public;
Authorized Department or Town administrators who create, scan, upload, receive, review, or maintain records in the course of their duties;
Public records and governmental databases;
Courts, law enforcement agencies, correctional agencies, and other public bodies;
Background-screening, credential-verification, insurance, benefit, pension, or other authorized service providers;
Emergency-response, dispatch, mutual-aid, medical, or public-safety organizations;
Information created automatically by authorized information systems, including access logs and audit records; and
Other lawful sources used in connection with municipal or Department operations.

Retention and Disposal

Personally identifiable information is retained for the period required or permitted by applicable law, records-retention requirements, litigation holds, audit requirements, contractual obligations, administrative needs, and legitimate operational requirements.

When records are eligible for destruction or deletion, the Town or Department may dispose of paper and electronic records using methods appropriate to the sensitivity of the information and the requirements applicable to the record.

Applicant and Personnel Records

Applicant and personnel records may contain particularly sensitive personally identifiable information. Such records may include, but are not limited to, Social Security numbers, government-issued identification, background reports, criminal-history information, photographs, employment history, family information, signatures, certifications, screening responses, administrative comments, and supporting documents obtained or created during review.

Access to applicant and personnel records is limited to authorized personnel and other persons or entities with a lawful need or legal authority to receive the information.

Social Security Numbers

Social Security numbers are treated as sensitive identifying information. When a Social Security number is requested directly from an individual, any notice required by applicable law concerning the purpose, authority, voluntary or mandatory nature of the request, or intended use of the Social Security number is provided in connection with that collection process as appropriate.

Public Records Requests

Records maintained by the Town of Spavinaw or Spavinaw Fire Department may be subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The Department will apply applicable law when determining whether a record, or any portion of a record, is subject to disclosure.

Personally identifiable information that is confidential, exempt from disclosure, privileged, protected by law, or otherwise subject to withholding or redaction will be handled in accordance with applicable law.

Questions Regarding This Disclosure

Questions concerning this disclosure, Department records, or the Department's handling of personally identifiable information may be directed to the Town of Spavinaw or the Spavinaw Fire Department using the contact information published by the Town or Department.

Last updated: October 7, 2026