iontb.com
IONTB.com is an active Tampa Bay news website that covers breaking local events, public safety, crashes, crime, weather, and other fast-moving community stories.
What is IONTB.com?
IONTB stands for “Eye On Tampa Bay,” and the website focuses on news that affects people living across the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
The site began in March 2013 after founder Steven Hirschfield recorded a large warehouse fire in Dunedin and saw strong interest in the video.
According to the IONTB About Us page, the original idea was to document local incidents while also showing the work of first responders.
That simple idea grew into a very focused local news service with thousands of published stories.
The site says it remains a small operation, which makes its large archive and frequent updates notable.
Does IONTB.com publish news in real time?
IONTB.com publishes stories quickly, but readers should understand the difference between fast local reporting and an official emergency dispatch system.
On September 13, 2026, the homepage was already displaying stories published late on September 12 and several reports from September 11.
The most recent homepage story involved a Pinellas County theft investigation and was published at 10:48 p.m. on September 12.
Other recent reports covered a kitten rescue along Interstate 275, a dengue outbreak, a serious Tampa crash, a shooting investigation, and a school fire.
This mix shows why the website can be useful when people want to know what is happening around Pinellas County and nearby Tampa Bay communities.
What kind of news can you find on IONTB.com?
The main IONTB news section has a strong public-safety focus, with frequent reports about police activity, fires, traffic crashes, arrests, road closures, rescues, and severe weather.
The coverage often names specific roads, cities, agencies, and neighborhoods, which gives the site a much more local feel than a broad Florida news website.
Places such as St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Largo, Palm Harbor, Tampa, and nearby Pasco County regularly appear in its reporting.
Some stories are short incident updates, while larger cases include more detail from police statements, court records, affidavits, or public officials.
What makes IONTB.com different from a normal news site?
The biggest difference is that IONTB is moving beyond articles and building tools for people who want to follow incidents as they develop.
The IONTB Apps and Services page offers access to Public Safety Radio and a separate Incident Alerts service.
The radio service is designed for authenticated access to Pinellas County public-safety radio and includes favorite systems, talkgroups, recent-call replay, background audio, Bluetooth, and CarPlay support.
The Incident Alerts service shows active calls, responding units, maps, incident history, and customizable alert rules.
Users can create alerts based on details such as call type, unit, grid, station, or keyword.
The service also supports selected weather alerts from across the United States.
Can people send news tips to IONTB.com?
Yes, IONTB provides an online media upload page where people can submit photos or videos connected to local events.
This community input fits the site's original model because much of its value comes from being close to events happening around Tampa Bay.
A person who sees a major crash, fire, unusual police response, or other public incident may be able to share useful visual information directly with the publisher.
Is IONTB.com an official government service?
No, IONTB clearly states that it is an independent information service and is not a government agency or emergency dispatch provider.
The site also warns that incident information can be delayed, incomplete, or changed as more facts become available.
People facing a real emergency should therefore call 911 instead of relying on a website, scanner, map, or notification.
This warning is important because real-time public-safety information can change very quickly.
Who will find IONTB.com most useful?
IONTB.com is most useful for Tampa Bay residents who want detailed neighborhood-level updates that may be too small or too recent for larger news organizations.
Drivers can use the coverage to learn about major crashes and road problems, while residents can follow fires, police investigations, weather threats, and other incidents near their communities.
News followers may also value the large archive because it creates a searchable record of local events stretching back many years.
Is IONTB.com worth checking for Tampa Bay breaking news?
IONTB.com is worth checking when you want fast and highly local Tampa Bay information, especially for public-safety events in and around Pinellas County.
Its strongest feature is not simply the number of stories it publishes but the way articles, community media, radio access, maps, and incident alerts are being brought together.
That approach makes IONTB.com feel less like a traditional local newspaper and more like a focused public-safety information hub built around events happening right now.