How does your company number its ambulances?

[BigPoppaBlueDevil]

So I'm sitting here posting for a while on a nice sunny day, and my partner and I are curious:how does YOUR company number the ambulances in its fleet? I'll start. Ours are done based on the model year, and the order the ambulances were purchased. For example unit 912 was the 9th ambulance bought in 2012.

 

[TransportJockey]

Last 5 of VIN number. The radio designator (Medic 80, Medic 81, M56, etc...) are done by base, not assigned to any one truck.

 

[Bullets]

My county dictates how every municipality numbers it emergency vehicles

XX-YY-ZZ

X=Township number
Y=agency number/station number
Z=Type of apparatus

So 15-21-56 is

15=Freehold township
1=EMS squad 1
56=ambulance, ambulances can be 56-64

FD are single digit station numbers, 1 and up
All EMS agencies are 2x series, so 21, 22, 23, most drop the 2 on the radio so its just 15-1-56, 19-2-57, ect

This also applies to police and fire, so when on a major incident, i know by call sign where and what type of apparatus im talking to

 

[NomadicMedic]

In Delaware, ambulances are fire based and are designated by a letter/station number. So, if Ellendale, station 75, had three ambulances, they would be A75, B75 and C75. When a medic is on board, the designation changes to Medic 75. In my county, all medic units are chase trucks and designated Medic 10x. (Stations 101 through 108) The second medic unit from a particular station is Medic 11x.

 

[Jambi]

My county dictates how every municipality numbers it emergency vehicles

XX-YY-ZZ

X=Township number
Y=agency number/station number
Z=Type of apparatus

So 15-21-56 is

15=Freehold township
1=EMS squad 1
56=ambulance, ambulances can be 56-64

FD are single digit station numbers, 1 and up
All EMS agencies are 2x series, so 21, 22, 23, most drop the 2 on the radio so its just 15-1-56, 19-2-57, ect

This also applies to police and fire, so when on a major incident, i know by call sign where and what type of apparatus im talking to

That sounds crazy to my west coast sensibility.

 

[DesertMedic66]

All ambulances are numbered for tracking and for our CAD/MDT. They are all 5 digits long 54485.

However the crews in the ambulances are numbered differently. They are a four digit number

For example 8103.
The 8 means the unit is from our division (area).
The 1 means its an ALS unit that deploys from our main station.
The 03 means its the 3rd unit to deploy from 12am.

If the second number is a 2 (8201) that means its a BLS unit. If the second number is a 3 (8301) that unit is an ALS unit that deploys from our east end deployment. If its a 4 then it is our dedicated city units (8405). If its an 8 then it is one of our "special" units (8860. That can be some of our event units, race unit, CCT unit, and supervisor.

 

[esmcdowell]

By which Fire District your main station is in. We are based in Fire District 7, so our units are all A7x. We have 4 ambulances so we have A71 through A75 (We skipped 2, not sure why).

 

[TRSpeed]

All ambulances are numbered for tracking and for our CAD/MDT. They are all 5 digits long 54485.

However the crews in the ambulances are numbered differently. They are a four digit number

For example 8103.
The 8 means the unit is from our division (area).
The 1 means its an ALS unit that deploys from our main station.
The 03 means its the 3rd unit to deploy from 12am.

If the second number is a 2 (8201) that means its a BLS unit. If the second number is a 3 (8301) that unit is an ALS unit that deploys from our east end deployment. If its a 4 then it is our dedicated city units (8405). If its an 8 then it is one of our "special" units (8860. That can be some of our event units, race unit, CCT unit, and supervisor.

The actual numbers on the unit are the last five of the vin if you notice.

 

[CALEMT]

Fire Dept. ambulances are numbered after the station their in ex. Station 55: Engine 55 Medic 55 and Medic 255 (255 is the 2nd roll ambulance). At my company we just number them 101,102,103 and so on. Nothing fancy just simple numbering haha.

 

[DesertMedic66]

The actual numbers on the unit are the last five of the vin if you notice.

Almost but not quite. We have a couple of units with different numbers on the right and left sides haha

 

[CPRinProgress]

Towns in my county all have a code. my town is 41, so our ambulances are 4191 4192 4193 and we have a first responder that is 4194 our cops are 4101 through 4108 fire is not the same just like engine 8 or battalion 1. other town around me are the same with the front two being different.

 

[wigwag]

It's county based in the format of XXYZ. XX is your 2-number agency identifier. Y will be A if you are ALS, B if you are BLS, M if you are a medic fly car, etc. Z starts at 1 and increases with every unit.

So, if you are agency 55, you might have 55A1, 55A2, and 55M1.

The nice thing about this method is, from the identifier, you know what kind of vehicle it is and who it belongs to. If I hear 21B3 is responding, I know they are coming in BLS.

 

[MissK]

The company I work for operates in 4 states. One state has trucks in the 100s, the next is 200s, and so forth. I know that at least for the state I'm in, each county's trucks are separated by 400s, 410s, and 430s. Each county has 3-4 trucks, so for example, 410, 411, 412, etc.

 

[Tigger]

At my rural place we are one of two agencies in the county. Our ambulances are Medics 10-15. The other agency is 1-5 (or anything less than ten). To ensure there is no confusion we refer to our ambulances as "med" and the other guys do "medic."

In the suburbs the county fire chiefs came up with a common numbering scheme. The first digit is the fire districts's number, the second is the resource type (8 for ambulance) and the third is station.

 

[frdude1000]

In the D.C. Metropolitan Area, all fire and rescue units are numbered under the COG (Council of Governments) system. Each county is given a prefix, which helps because there is a lot of auto aid and mutual aid going on.
0 - DCFD
1 - Arlington County VA
2 - City of Alexandria VA
3 - MWAA (Metro Washington Airports Authority - Dulles & Reagan)
4 - Fairfax County VA(includes Fairfax City)
5 - Prince William County VA (includes Manassas and Manassas Park)
6 - Loudoun County VA
7 - Montgomery County MD
8 - Prince George's County MD
9 - Frederick County MD

The next two numbers are the station number. For example, all units out of station 1 in Fairfax County would be 401. Units are referred to as follows:
Brush, Engine, Tower, Truck, Rescue Squad (Heavy Rescue), Ambulance (BLS), Medic (ALS), utility. Finally, the first due of each type of unit is alpha, second due is bravo, third due is charlie, and so on. We usually omit saying alpha.

So the order goes [unit type] [county prefix] [Station number] [Alpha designation]

Here are more examples:
Ambulance 725- BLS unit out of station 25 in Montgomery County.
Medic 812- ALS unit out of station 12 in Prince George's County.
Ambulance 925B- Second due BLS unit out of station 25 in Frederick county

 

[Signal 17]

Numbering

American Ambulance of Norwich CT names their units. They have a corresponding number for simple ID (like keys and mutual aid), but even on the radio they are referred to by name.

001 - Alpha
002 - Apollo
003 - Beta
004 - Columbia
005 - Delta
006 - Discovery
007 - Epsilon
008 - Gemini
009 - Mercury
010 - Viking
012 - Voyager
017 - Challenger
019 - Titan
020 - Freedom
021 - Orion
022 - Jupiter
023 - Pioneer
024 - Frontier
026 - Aries
027 - Explorer
028 - Allegiance
029 - Zeus
030 - Glory

 

[MissK]

American Ambulance of Norwich CT names their units. They have a corresponding number for simple ID (like keys and mutual aid), but even on the radio they are referred to by name.

001 - Alpha
002 - Apollo
003 - Beta
004 - Columbia
005 - Delta
006 - Discovery
007 - Epsilon
008 - Gemini
009 - Mercury
010 - Viking
012 - Voyager
017 - Challenger
019 - Titan
020 - Freedom
021 - Orion
022 - Jupiter
023 - Pioneer
024 - Frontier
026 - Aries
027 - Explorer
028 - Allegiance
029 - Zeus
030 - Glory

That's actually pretty cool. I'd want to work on Viking lol.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Are the paramedic intercept trucks still called Gamma and wheelchair vans, Sigma? (I spent a lot of time in the old Viking, doing runs to 785.)
It was confusing when you'd be in Gamma 2, but on fire radio you'd either be "Medic 21" or "Norwich Medics".

And that place was a mess of codes and weird status markers.

Out at the hospital was "signal O", available was "B-A" and transporting was "B-T". All the facilities had three digit code numbers and the dispatchers talked a mile a minute.

 

[firecoins]

With numbers usually

 

[BeachMedic]

We use names on Oahu as well. Most, but not all of the names are of parts of the neighborhood their serve. There are corresponding numbers but I don't know them all yet.

Honolulu Town Units
Charlie1
Metro1
Baker1
Pawa'a
Makiki
*Kokua1
*Airport1

*If staffing permits, which it never does.

Windward/Westside
Aiea
Waipio
Waipahu
Ewa Beach
Makakilo
Nanakuli
Wainae
Response1

Central to North Shore
Wahiawa
Wailua
Kahuku
Response2

Leeward/Eastside
Wailupe
Hawaii Kai
Waimanalo
Kailua
Kaneohe

We're sort of solo dolo out here in the middle of the ocean. Not a lot of mutual aid. AMR has one contracted back up 911 ambulance on Oahu but that contract is set to expire in September I think.