How current is IncidentSource event data?

IncidentSource event data is near-real-time, not instant. The platform's Recent Major Events list is labeled with a 15 minute delay, and every event carries a UTC timestamp so you can judge exactly how fresh a given entry is. If your use case requires second-by-second live monitoring, this is a delayed feed; if you need fast awareness of major incidents across many agencies, a 15-minute lag is usually acceptable.

What the site shows about data freshness

The homepage presents three rolling 24-hour counters:

These are aggregate counts over a trailing 24-hour period, which tells you the system is continuously ingesting and classifying radio traffic rather than publishing in daily batches.

The Recent Major Events table is explicitly described as "Last 20 major events · 15 minute delay." That delay figure is the clearest statement of currency on the page, and it applies to the major-event feed.

How to read the timestamps

Each row in the major events list includes a date and time in UTC, for example:

• 2026-10-14 02:22 UTC — MVA Extrication, NC-Charlotte / Mecklenburg County Fire/EMS
• 2026-10-14 02:12 UTC — Shooting, AZ-Phoenix Fire
• 2026-10-14 02:04 UTC — Structure Fire - Working Fire, CA-Verdugo Fire Communications Authority

Two things follow from this:

1. UTC only. You need to convert to your local time zone to compare against your own clock. A 02:22 UTC event is the previous evening in US Pacific time.
2. Timestamps are per event. You can measure the gap between the newest row and the current time to sanity-check the stated delay on any given visit.

What "near-real-time" means in practice

The combination of a 15-minute delay, continuous 24-hour counters, and per-event UTC timestamps points to a system built for rapid awareness rather than live dispatch monitoring. Practical implications:

• Good fit: tracking major incident patterns across regions, catching up on what happened in the last hour, monitoring multiple agencies you can't listen to simultaneously.
• Poor fit: anything requiring you to know about an incident the moment it is dispatched, or to act on a scene in progress.

How to verify currency yourself

1. Open the Recent Major Events list.
2. Note the newest timestamp and convert it to your local time.
3. Compare it against your current local time.
4. The difference should be roughly consistent with the stated 15-minute delay; a much larger gap suggests the feed is lagging or the list has not refreshed.

Common points of confusion

• The 24-hour counters are not live gauges. They are rolling totals, so they will always look "current" even if you are reading a cached page.
• The delay applies to the major events list. The page states the 15-minute figure specifically for that table; it does not claim the same figure for every signal or event in the system.
• UTC timestamps can look "wrong." An event dated later than your local date is normal if you are west of UTC.