vehicles, and what you call them

[Jon]

natrab- you reminded me of something.

...I work the night car...

Here comes another cutural difference between areas that I had jogged by a recent video I saw.

Our acting Operation Director when I was in Louisana noticed this too.

We all got confused when folks would talk about "cars" - Around my neck of the woods, a "car" is a command vehicle or chase car for a medic responder / fire/EMS chief.

A "Squad" could be either - a group of individual units, as in the military. Can also be a "BLS" rig, could be a Rescue-Engine, or a EMS company.

A "Truck" is both a generic aparatus designator, and also a Fire-side term for an areial ladder, often with a platform.

A "Rig" is a VERY generic term to refer to apparatus with.

an "Ambulance" could be a BLS or ALS unit, depends on local protocol

A "Unit" - indiviudal unit

A "Bus" - "Fid-nee" way to talk (think Third Watch). Sometimes a BLS unit, sometimes generic. Around here, you say "BUS" and they ask how many passengers you have so they can tell the bus company.


Anyway, the manager coined the term STRAUB to refer to a single ambulance... It was pretty funny.

SO - in your area - what do you call:

BLS non-transport unit
BLS transport unit
ILS non-transport unit
ILS transport unit
ALS non-transport unit
ALS transport unit
Bariatric-capable transport unit
Interfacility BLS/ALS transport unit if different
Critical Care interfacility transport

Chief
Asst Chief / Supervisor / "duty" chief vehicle
Fire Engine with Rescue tools
Heavy Rescue vehicle

 

[Jon]

I'll give you mine first:

BLS non-transport unit --- QRS
BLS transport unit -------- Ambulance
ALS non-transport unit --- Medic
ALS transport unit -------- MICU
Bariatric-capable transport unit --- F.A.R.T. (Fat *** Retrivial Team - jokin))
Critical Care interfacility transport - CCT / SCTU

Chief ------- Chief - Fire Side
EMS Capt. is XX-20 (55-20)
EMS Lt. is XX-21, XX-22
ALS officers are XX-60, 61, 62...
Supervisor / "duty" chief vehicle - some places use "Car" for a junior supervisor duty vehicle.
Fire Engine with Rescue tools - Engine xx or Rescue xx - it is in CAD as being both
Heavy Rescue vehicle - Rescue xx

 

[MMiz]

Around here we call all units trucks.

Once I had a ride along with AMR during my EMT clinicals. I was trying to be "cool" so I called it a bus. Everyone gave me a weird look.

 

[JJR512]

BLS non-transport unit: Never heard of this, all our ambulances can transport
BLS transport unit: Ambulance, BLS unit, BLS rig
ILS non-transport unit: My county doesn't have any ILS units
ILS transport unit: My county doesn't have any ILS units
ALS non-transport unit: Never heard of this, all our ambulances can transport
ALS transport unit: Ambulance, ALS unit, ALS rig, Paramedic unit, Medic unit
Bariatric-capable transport unit: I don't know what this is
Interfacility BLS/ALS transport unit if different: Our BLS/ALS units can do this but I think in this county it's usually done by a private ambulance company
Critical Care interfacility transport: Same as Interfacility transport unit

Chief: I don't know
Asst Chief / Supervisor / "duty" chief vehicle: I think only the station's Chief gets his own vehicle; the station also has a "utility" truck, a pickup truck in matching paint/graphics scheme with lights and sirens, usually used for non-emergency situations
Fire Engine with Rescue tools: Our station doesn't have one of these...I think
Heavy Rescue vehicle: Rescue, Squad, Rescue Squad, The Truck

Here's how the other terms you mentioned are used in our station and county:
Car: Same as in civilan life; i.e., a non-truck vehicle.
Squad: Never for multiple vehicles, only for the rescue unit, which is varyingly called the Truck, Rescue, Rescue Squad, Rescue Unit, Rescue Truck.
Truck: Can refer generically to any fire surpression vehicle, but normally reserved for the Rescue Squad.
Rig: Usually used in reference only to an ambulance (ALS or BLS), but sometimes to any of the station's vehicles.
Unit: Usually used in reference only to an ambulance (ALS or BLS), but sometimes to any of the station's vehicles.

You also mentioned a fire surpression vehicle with an aerial apparatus; this is normally called either a "tower" or a "ladder". My station doesn't have any of this type of truck, so I don't know if the two terms refer to the same thing or specifically to different variations of aerial apparatus trucks.

Our county does not have any articulated rigs--you know, the tiller trucks. Those are neat; it's too bad they're disappearing from active duty.

 

[TTLWHKR]

BLS non-transport: That would be a QRS unit (Quick Responder Service)
I would call that... my POV.

Metawagon - Volunteer BLS Ambulance
Bus - ALS Ambulance
Truck - Aerial Ladder
Wagon - Pumper
Chains - Rescue

 

[Jon]

A non-transport ALS/BLS unit is a response vehicle to assist in patient care. It isn't an ambulance..... something like a utility.

Also - in my county, a "Squad" is a personell transport unit - at my station, ours is fully stocked to the QRS standard for a BLS non-transport unit. We don't have a QRS service, technically.,.. so the Squad responds to "assist the ambulance"

 

[JJR512]

BLS non-transport: That would be a QRS unit (Quick Responder Service)
I would call that... my POV.

Ahh... My county doesn't have anything like this. The ambulance from the closest fire station, whether it's ALS or BLS, is dispatched to calls from 911. If the closest ambulance is BLS and an ALS response is needed, both will be dispatched, and the BLS unit will do whatever can be done until ALS gets there.

On another note... I forgot to put this in my earlier reply, but I also wanted to share how vehicles are designated in my county. The ambulances that belong to fire companies (i.e., all those not operated by private companies) have the fire company number on them. For example, the two that my company own have "34" on them. But when dispatch calls for an ambulance, they'll call for "Ambulance 3-4-9". Or whatever the company number is, plus a nine at the end. Every company's first ambulance is the number plus a nine; if a company has another, the second is the company number plus an eight, and theoretically it continues down like that. On the other hand, a fire company's first engine is the company number plus a one, so our first engine is Engine 3-4-1. The second engine would be 3-4-2. I don't think any company is going to be so large as to have enough engines and ambulances to overlap in numbers, because if any one area needed a fire company with that much equipment, it would be split up into two smaller areas long before that. Only the engines and ambulances get designated in this fashion; all the other types of vehicles only get designated by company number, like Rescue 3-4.

 

[JJR512]

A non-transport ALS/BLS unit is a response vehicle to assist in patient care. It isn't an ambulance..... something like a utility.

Also - in my county, a "Squad" is a personell transport unit - at my station, ours is fully stocked to the QRS standard for a BLS non-transport unit. We don't have a QRS service, technically.,.. so the Squad responds to "assist the ambulance"

I guess I'm just thinking in different terms, because although I just said our county doesn't have anything like that, when it's explained in these terms I see that we do. We have a utility truck that has some medical response equipement and supplies; I don't know if it's stocked to full QRS standards, though. But this truck is not ever actually dispatched from 911. This is the truck that people at the station use to go to the grocery store. It's what they use if they need to drive out on official business and don't want to use their personal vehicle.

On the other hand, our Rescue Squad is, I'm quite sure, fully QRS-ready; that's half its purpose. The other half being, of course, the actual rescue stuff, like vehicle extrication, trench rescue, etc.

 

[Jon]

arond here it is:

Station 5:
Engine 5-1, 5-3, 5-5 (-5, -6 indicates "Pumper Tanker" - 2500+ gallons)
Rescue 5
Brush 5
Traffic 5 - fire police
Squad 5 (BLS responder unit, F350 with reading body)
Utility 5 (PD's Old E150 van, backs up Fire Police, Fire prevention)

Station 51
Engine 51-1, 51-2
Brush 51
Tac 51 (Mini pumper)
Squad 51

Station 53:
Engine 53
Rescue 53
Ladder 53
Tanker 53
Squad 53

Station 55
Ambulace 55-1, 55-2, 55-3, 55-4, 55-5
Squad 55 (BLS non-transport responder unit, Supervisor's car - supervisor drives and responds as 55-20 - EMS 'chief')

An example of numbering errors that "could" - Engine 5-3 vs. Engine 53. 5 has 3 engines, 53 has 1, so they don't need a number after the station number. Therefore, the station number is expreseed as Fifty Three: Engine Five-Three vs. Engine Fifty-Three. Can be confusing.

 

[Jon]

I guess I'm just thinking in different terms, because although I just said our county doesn't have anything like that, when it's explained in these terms I see that we do. We have a utility truck that has some medical response equipement and supplies; I don't know if it's stocked to full QRS standards, though. But this truck is not ever actually dispatched from 911. This is the truck that people at the station use to go to the grocery store. It's what they use if they need to drive out on official business and don't want to use their personal vehicle.

On the other hand, our Rescue Squad is, I'm quite sure, fully QRS-ready; that's half its purpose. The other half being, of course, the actual rescue stuff, like vehicle extrication, trench rescue, etc.

BUT - if all your ambulances are out of service or on calls, or you are at 7-11 with the utility and there is a call "real close" - wouldn't you drive over and start care, telling the county / your station that you were there???

 

[SWVAEMT]

BLS non-transport unit......................................Wagon XX
BLS transport unit............................................Rescue XX
ALS non-transport unit......................................EMS X
ALS transport unit............................................Medic XX
Bariatric-capable transport unit...........................None / Private Co.
Interfacility BLS/ALS transport unit if different.......None / Private Co
Critical Care interfacility transport.......................None / Private Co

Chief.............................................................Chief
Asst Chief / Supervisor / "duty" chief vehicle.........Batallion Chief
Fire Engine with Rescue tools.............................Engine XX
Heavy Rescue vehicle.......................................Squad XX

 

[JJR512]

BUT - if all your ambulances are out of service or on calls, or you are at 7-11 with the utility and there is a call "real close" - wouldn't you drive over and start care, telling the county / your station that you were there???

Yeah, theoretically this could happen. Keep in mind that I'm still in training and don't have any field experience yet, so I can't say for sure what happens, and am only speaking from my experiences of "hanging out" at the fire station. But, here's what I think about that.

Dispatch will know whether or not our ambulance is "in service". If they need an ambulance dispatched to an incident in our first-due area, and our ambulance is in service, they will dispatch it. If they know our ambulance is not in service, they will not dispatch it. Now the difference here is in what the people in the station will hear. The P.A. system in the station plays all dispatch announcements for any station in the county; each message is preceded by the tones of the station the message is for. But, if the message is for our own station, not only is it preceded by the tones, but before the tones there's also a distinctive ringing sound it makes. Additionally, the ringing sound, the tones, and the message itself all come over at a much higher volume level that the tones and messages for other stations. I'm sure all I've just described is pretty common stuff. My point is that if our ambulance is not available for dispatch, 911 will dispatch the ambulance from another station. So it's a matter of if anyone in our station (or someone from our station out at 7-11 listening to the pager) will hear that dispatch message and if they'll realize the address given is in our own area. I suppose that if both these things happen, they could notify dispatch (911) that we are also responding with our utility truck.

I'll have to find out definitively whether or not our utility is full QRS-capable, and whether or not it is a dispatchable vehicle. This is the kind of information that could be very important for me to know, for the reasons you just pointed out, and I don't know if it's ever taught or if we're just expected to know it somehow.

 

[TTLWHKR]

Not if it didn't have any equipment...


Okay, we got a full arrest, lay out to the plug and pull a line... use the smooth bore...

Call the truck company, we'll use the outriggers like a thumper!

 

[Jon]

Yeah, theoretically this could happen. Keep in mind that I'm still in training and don't have any field experience yet, so I can't say for sure what happens, and am only speaking from my experiences of "hanging out" at the fire station. But, here's what I think about that.

Dispatch will know whether or not our ambulance is "in service". If they need an ambulance dispatched to an incident in our first-due area, and our ambulance is in service, they will dispatch it. If they know our ambulance is not in service, they will not dispatch it. Now the difference here is in what the people in the station will hear. The P.A. system in the station plays all dispatch announcements for any station in the county; each message is preceded by the tones of the station the message is for. But, if the message is for our own station, not only is it preceded by the tones, but before the tones there's also a distinctive ringing sound it makes. Additionally, the ringing sound, the tones, and the message itself all come over at a much higher volume level that the tones and messages for other stations. I'm sure all I've just described is pretty common stuff. My point is that if our ambulance is not available for dispatch, 911 will dispatch the ambulance from another station. So it's a matter of if anyone in our station (or someone from our station out at 7-11 listening to the pager) will hear that dispatch message and if they'll realize the address given is in our own area. I suppose that if both these things happen, they could notify dispatch (911) that we are also responding with our utility truck.

I'll have to find out definitively whether or not our utility is full QRS-capable, and whether or not it is a dispatchable vehicle. This is the kind of information that could be very important for me to know, for the reasons you just pointed out, and I don't know if it's ever taught or if we're just expected to know it somehow.

But, if your ambulance is out of service, do you still respond with the Utility to get there first and initiate care?

As for the loud noise in the station with the tones - is that before or after the tones drop? My station has a scanner on a PA amplifier with speakers all over the station. They also have a pager wired into it, but at a louder volume. The pager beeps REALLY loud when we get a call....

At the Amb. Co- we have a pager wired in with a PA system at a volume designed to wake our next-door neighbors (and I still sleep through it). The pager is set to auto-reset and not bother us unless we are toned out.

Jon

 

[natrab]

It's amazing how different the terminology is. When I refer to a "car" I'm actually referring to a shift. Our shifts are paged out to us as letters. For example, the night shifts are the "Market-C car" and the "R car". Each station has a letter. I used to work Prunedale which was the "D car" and Big Sur which is the "B car". There's no real reason for it as each unit also has a permanent number. Market-C is 46, R car is 47, Prunedale is 31 etc. I don't actually refer to my ambulance as a car though, it's just a shift thing.

A "squad" in my county 99% of the time means a police unit, the other 1% meaning a Fire Rescue squad which is a modified pickup truck. "Rescue" is another name for it.

"Truck" only means one thing here and that is a ladder truck. If you call an engine a truck you will be labeled as a newbie by the fire guys.

"Engine" of course refers to a fire engine (medic engine if they're ALS).

"Rig" can refer to any diesel vehicle.

With the new company and county contract, we are an ALS only county, meaning there aren't any BLS units. Back when we had them, they were still just "Units" (could call them ALS or BLS unit if you needed to specify), "Ambulances" and they occasionally get dubbed a "Bus" since you start to feel like a bus driver after giving so many bums with "10 out of 10 abdominal pain" or "crushing chest pain radiating into the left side of their neck" (yes, I'm talking about seekers here) rides to the hospital.

We do have a "QRV" (Quick Response Vehicle) which is just a medic in a bronco who responds with BLS fire in a certain up-scale area (Pebble Beach to be exact, and they pay for it).

If I referred to an ambulance as a wagon or rescue or squad I would get some pretty funny looks around here.

 

[SafetyPro2]

Here's the common fire service EMS unit terminology used around here:

RA - Rescue Ambulance, a (usually) ALS unit staffed by two FF/PMs, but can be BLS.

Squad - Non-transport ALS unit on a pickup chassis with utility box (a la Squad 51) staffed by two FF/PMs. Still used by LA County Fire and some other departments with AMR or another private handling the transport. LA County designates some Squads as Heavy Squads (I believe one per Battalion) that carry additional supplies for responding to MCIs (they still respond to regular calls too).

Paramedic Engine - A standard four-person engine with at least two of the crew trained to the Paramedic level and carrying all required ALS supplies. Considered an ALS unit.

Assessment Engine - A standard four-person engine with only one Paramedic and some or all required ALS supplies. Not considered a true ALS unit, but can initiate ALS-level care with a true ALS unit enroute (the County requires a minimum of two Pararmedics on-board to consider a unit as an ALS unit).

Other fire apparatus terms used:

Engine - An apparatus with a pump. The specific names used elsewhere (Rescue Engine, Brush Engine, etc.) aren't often used with the exception of the ALS-designations above.

Truck - Any type of aerial apparatus (most common being a 100' tiller). Trucks handle most of the extrication/light rescue duties that might be handled by a "rescue company" in other parts of the country.

Quint - Not very common, but occasionally used (particularly by LA County). Some departments that operate quints just refer to them as trucks.

Light Force (LAFD) - A single "company" consisting of a Truck and an Engine with a crew of 6 (5 on the truck and 1 on the engine).

Task Force (LAFD) - An Engine with a crew of 4 plus a Light Force. The LF engine is referred to as the 200-series engine because it has a 200 prefix to the station number. Station 88 (Task Force 88), for example, has Engine 88 and Light Force 88, which consists of Truck 88 and Engine 288.

Utility - Either a standard pickup or a utility bed pickup (usually with a lift gate) used for "utility" purposes. May or may not be equipped with lights and sirens. In our department, the Utility responds on all calls and carries a set of extrication equipment as well as EMS supplies and forcible entry tools. Its our third-up EMS unit, and for fire calls, usually attaches to the second-in engine company to form a truck company (since we've retired our truck).

US&R - Urban Search and Rescue unit, a heavy rescue-type unit geared towards building collapses and technical rescue. Most only respond on such situations. The trend is for very large vehicles, with several of the newer ones being tractor-trailer setups, due to the equipment carried. (note: its pronounced "YOO-SAR", but the spelling was changed from USAR to US&R over complaints from the Army, which uses USAR to refer to the "U.S. Army Reserve".)

HazMat - A HazMat response unit, usually staffed by 4 Technician-level and 2 Specialist-level FFs. Some departments, like LAFD, have dedicated HazMat units. Smaller cities usually have a truck company trained as HazMat responders and an unmanned HazMat apparatus. If a call comes in for the HazMat, the truck goes out of service and the crew transfers to the HazMat rig.

Air Utility - A mobile SCBA cascade refilling system, often with additional SCBA cylinders as well. Also occasionally referred to as Air & Light units if they also carry scene lighting equipment.

Water Tender - A large water supply truck. Some variants (like ours) have sprayers around the vehicle for application of fire retardant. (note: you never refer to these as "tankers" around here...tankers have wings and tenders have wheels).

Patrol - A small (usually pickup) vehicle used for brush patrol in interface areas. May be equipped with a skid-mount pump for dealing with incipient fires.

Fire Crew - The transport for a hand-line crew, which is often a large box-type truck with the rear box setup as a crew riding/rehab area (somewhat like an RV cabin).

 

[JJR512]

But, if your ambulance is out of service, do you still respond with the Utility to get there first and initiate care?

Well, that's what I was trying to say. The fact is that I'm not 100% sure of the answer yet at this stage of my training. But I suspect the utility truck is not a vehicle that is "dispatchable". So, if our ambulance is out of service, an ambulance dispatch message will be sent to another station, and it's entirely possible that nobody in our station would be aware of it. However, from what I've observed, most of the people there try to listen to all of the pages, to keep abreast of what's going on around the county. So, as I said, it's also entirely possible that if the utility truck is properly equipped and ready, that some people could take it out to the scene to get things started. I'll have to find out about that. I know the utility truck does carry some medical equipment and supplies, but I don't what its "preparedness level" is.

As for the loud noise in the station with the tones - is that before or after the tones drop? My station has a scanner on a PA amplifier with speakers all over the station. They also have a pager wired into it, but at a louder volume. The pager beeps REALLY loud when we get a call....

At the Amb. Co- we have a pager wired in with a PA system at a volume designed to wake our next-door neighbors (and I still sleep through it). The pager is set to auto-reset and not bother us unless we are toned out.

Jon

I don't know the electronics behind it, but there are speakers all over the station of course. We hear all dispatch messages for the entire county. When a message is broadcast for our station, first there is a pager-type noise, like an electronic phone ring but higher-pitched and faster. Then comes the tones. Then comes the human voice giving the message. All of this occurs at a loud volume. For other stations, it's all at a quieter volume, and it starts with the tones (no pager or ringing noise), then the voiced message. So, there are three clues to the people in a station that they're getting dispatched before the dispatcher even says anything: The fact that it's louder, the preceding paging/ringing sound, and the tone pattern that is unique to each station. Additionally, many of the company members have department-issued pagers, which as I'm sure you're probably aware are not like regular pagers that people have. They don't have screens; they're just like little speaker boxes (but flat) with an on/off switch and volume control. What you hear over the pager is the exact same thing you hear over the station's PA.

 

[JJR512]

OK, I have found out definitively. The county's stations' utility trucks are NOT equipped to QRS standards. They carry simple first aid supplies only. They are not dispatchable vehicles.

 

[rural_emtp]

Dispatch refers to ambulances as Medic such and such.
Truck, what we call an ambulance, ALS or BLS.
Rescue truck - quick response vehicle with extrication equipment and ALS gear usually driven by the supervisor on duty if not on a truck.
Ambulance - what the administration calls an ambulance.
We refer to a truck as an ambulance if there is no crew for it, and it is sitting parked.
Fire truck - all fire trucks, regardless of function.
Town officer - city police.
Sheriff - sheriff's deputies
Highway - highway patrol.
Highway man - highway patrol trooper.
Law enforcement - any type: city, county, state
Crew - crew on a truck
Mighty whitey - what the crews call the supervisor because of the white shirt.