Responders

The Responders were a volunteer disaster relief organization operating in Appalachia after the Great War, dedicated to helping local communities survive. By 2102, the faction had been wiped out.

Background
The Responders emerged in Appalachia after the Great War at some point before the year 2082. They were an organized volunteer group made up of firefighters, police, and medical staff that set up emergency aid stations in various towns to provide medical assistance and necessities to survivors. They also created an automated system to teach people basic survival skills such as how to treat water and obtain food.

The Responders had an uneasy relationship with the Brotherhood of Steel, as the Brotherhood tried to recruit skilled Responders away to join the fledgling Appalachian chapter. The organization did not have the equipment or expertise that came with being a former military unit like the Brotherhood, as much of their equipment came from their origins as civilian emergency services, meaning members of that caliber were both needed and in short supply. Like the Brotherhood, the Responders fought against the encroaching Scorched, and also researched a means to develop a vaccine against the Scorched plague, but their efforts ultimately fell short and they were wiped out some time before Vault 76 opened. There is evidence of a Responders Radio station that operated prior to the group's destruction, as mentioned in the Riverside Manor terminal entries.

By 2102, the Responders are long gone, with only their aid stations and the corpses of their members left behind to attest to their existence, as well as their Responder protectrons. Some of their protectrons continue to run their automated trading posts in Flatwoods and railroad stations across Appalachia.

Ranks

 * Responders were the leaders of the faction who each had a job, a specialty, and housing assignment. The job of Responders was to help everyone, including volunteers and candidates.
 * Volunteers were below Responders and had the job to help others. Like Responders, volunteers also had jobs, specialties, and housing assignments. Survivors registered to become volunteers with a Responder or at the self-serve registration kiosk. Survivors and candidates became volunteers by participating in two experiments and/or training sessions.
 * Volunteer Candidates were of the lowest rank, being too young to become Volunteers or Responders. At the age of 13, candidates could be promoted. While candidates were assigned housing, they were not assigned jobs or specialties.

Fire Breathers
This division was responsible for fighting fires, and later the Scorched, across Appalachia. They were based in the former Charleston Fire Department and made up of a mix of pre-War Charleston F.D. and post-War volunteers. Player characters can go through their training regimen during the quest Into the Fire. They recruited only the very best, putting the candidates through quite the ordeal. The potential candidates had to enter a burning mine full of Scorched and sound the alarm at the end, drawing the Scorched to themselves in hordes. Even a group with experience fighting the Scorched failed this test.

Flatwoods Paramedics
Their cosmetic uniform is rewarded upon the completion of the main questline in Flatwoods. Along with the primary Responder forces in Flatwoods, they provided medical services and helped in recruiting efforts before the Scorched overran Morgantown Airport.

Responders' Police Force
Their uniform is rewarded upon the completion of the main questline in Morgantown.
 * Morgantown P.D. - assisted in the large scale defense of Morgantown Airport and also protected civilians within the city itself. Most of the police force was wiped out in the failed defense against the Scorched, and many police officers are seen to have turned into Scorched themselves.
 * Charleston P.D. - responsible for maintaining law and order in the city of Charleston, they were wiped out along with most of the city following their capture of raider Rosalynn Jeffries, which her partner David Thorpe responded to by stealing a mini nuke and destroying Summersville Dam in what would come to be called The Christmas Flood.

Appearances
The Responders appear only in Fallout 76.