Fire/Rescue Dispatch and Operations

Montgomery County, Maryland

Vehicle Designations

• Air* - refills breathing apparatus on extended incidents (a.k.a. BA), automatically dispatched on all second alarm fires
• Airboat* - a boat with a big fan for propulsion
• AirCare** - INOVA Fairfax Hospital medevac helicopter (base: Falls Church, Virginia)
• Ambulance - Basic Life Support (BLS)
• ATV* - All-Terrain Vehicle
• Boat* - self-explanatory
• Boat Support* - water rescue equipment
• Brush - for small brush fires (converted pick-up trucks)
• Canteen* - provides refreshments on extended incidents
• Car - fire department vehicles (sedans, SUVs)
• Command Support 1 - support vehicle for major incidents
• Communications Support Unit 1 - mobile communications support, based at ECC
• Eagle** - U.S. Park Police helicopter (base: Anacostia Naval Annex)
• EMC** - Emergency Management Group (EMG) vehicle
• Engine - pumper, hoses, may have some extendable ladders
• Extrication* - basic extrication equipment only (see Rescue Squad)
• Field Com** - one of two large mobile field commandposts (one is a large tour-bus type vehicle, the other resembles an RV) which are operated by the County Police but may be used by Fire/Rescue when necessary, these units respond on very major incidents only (and are often deployed in advance of large events such as the county fair)
• Hazmat* - hazardous materials response vehicle
• MC-10 - Montgomery County transportation observation aircraft (see the TMC page)
• Medic - Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance, staffed with at least to paramedics
• MedSTAR** - Washington Hospital Center medevac helicopter (base: Washington, DC)
• Mobile* - designates a command vehicle when not operated by a command-certified person
• Quint* - pumper, ladder truck combo
• Rehab* - evaluates firefighters' vital signs on extended incidents
• Rescue Car - rescue company vehicles (see Car)
• Rescue Squad* - heavy rescue, jaws of life, vehicle extrication, etc.
• SETT 1 - Special Evacuation Tactics Team vehicle
• Support Unit 7 - Hazmat support vehicle
• Tanker* - large capacity water tanks on wheels
• Tank Wagon - (see Tanker)
• Tower* - aerial ladder truck (platform on top with deck gun)
• Transport* - transport vehicle for the various special response "PODs"
• Trooper** - Maryland State Police helicopter (for more info see my Trooper Helicopter page)
• Truck* - large hydraulic ladder in addition to other extendable ladders
• URT 29 - Underwater Rescue Team vehicle
• Utility* - fire department vehicle
• Wagon - (see Engine)

Personnel Designations

• Chief - corporation, deputy, station, or assistant chief
• Chief 100** - Division Chief - DFRS
• Chief 101** - Division Chief - DVFRS
• Chief 200** - on-duty county fire/rescue chief (Assistant Chief)
• Chief 200[A,B,C]** - Chiefs 200A, 200B, and 200C are the individual designations for the shift chiefs (Assistant Chiefs)
• Chief 20[1-3]** - Assistant Chiefs - Operations (Chief 202 is the EMS Assistant Chief)
• Command*- setup only on major incidents that warrant a commandpost
• Command 91 - bomb squad commandpost (see Special Unit 91)
• District** - county fire/rescue chief assigned to one of five large districts (these district designations are outlined below; District Chiefs are based around the county as follows: 1 at station 12; 2 at station 6; 3 at station 23; 4 at station 25; 5 at station 8)
• Duty* - non-chief officer (usually rank of captain or higher), dispatched on major incidents
• EMS 1** - EMS Duty Officer/Public Information Officer (used instead of his/her assigned "Unit" number designation)
• Exec** - Exec 1 is the County Executive, Exec 2 is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
• FM** - fire marshals (see listing below)
• 9-Tango-xx** - Montgomery County Police TOD Tactical Section units
• Rescue Chief - rescue company chief
• Rescue Duty* - rescue company duty officer (see Duty)
• Service** - radio shop personnel
• Special Unit 91 - bomb squad (see Command 91)
• Strike Team 10 - swift water rescue team from station 10
• Strike Team 30 - swift water rescue team from station 30
• Unit** - specific person with a radio desgnation (e.g., color guard, EMS captains, etc. -- see listing below)

Numbering Scheme

Note: Starting in July 2000 the preface "Medic" has been added to fire apparatus (engines, trucks and rescue squads) to designate when that apparatus is staffed with at least one paramedic and has paramedic equipment onboard.

Vehicles and personnel are identified by the type (see above), followed by the station number (either 1 or 2 digits), and a unit number (1 digit).  For example, Engine 171 is a pumper truck from Station 17.  Units marked with an asterik (*) are referred to simply by station number; however, in rare situations when a station has more than one of these types of apparatus, they will be identified with the station number, dash, and the unit number (e.g., Tanker 17-1 and Tanker 17-2).  Units marked with two asteriks (**) are numbered independently of this numbering scheme.

Engines are numbered in ascending order by station, starting with 1.  Ambulances and medics are numbered in descending order by station, starting with 9 (medics first, then ambulances).  Brush trucks are numbered in ascending order by station, starting with 5.  Cars are given arbitrary numbers, generally using numbers not used by other units.

Corporation chiefs are identified by the primary station in the corporation (e.g., Rockville VFD corporation chief is Chief 3, there are no Chiefs 23, 31, or 33).  Assistant, deputy, and station chiefs are identified by the primary station and an additional number (e.g., Chief 3-1, Chief 3-2, etc.).  Rescue chiefs are numbered in the same manner.

Rescue company units are not numbered using this scheme.  Rescue company units are two digits, the first being the rescue company's number.  The second digit is the unit number; medics and ambulances are numbered in ascending order starting with 0 (medics first, followed by ambulances).  Rescue squads are numbered in descending order starting with 9.  Due to this numbering system, the rescue squad at station 29 has the number 291.  Rescue Company 1 operates an ambulance/medic (depending on staffing) that has the number 40, it operates out of Bethesda FD station 26.

When using portable radios, the radio user identifies using their assigned apparatus name and number followed by a letter. "A" designates the driver. "B" designates the charge officer. "C" designates the third person and so on. The letter "T" is reserved for Tiller truck rear-position drivers.

District Designations:

• District 1 - Burtonsville, Hillandale, Silver Spring, Takoma Park (Stations 1, 2, 12, 15, 16, 19, 24)
• District 2 - Bethesda, Cabin John, Chevy Chase, Glen Echo, Potomac (Stations 6, 7, 10, 11, 20, 26, 30, R1)
• District 3 - Germantown, North Potomac, Poolesville, Rockville (Stations 3, 14, 23, 29, 31, 33)
• District 4 - Aspen Hill, Kensington, Olney, Wheaton, Sandy Spring (Stations 4, 5, 18, 21, 25, 40, R2)
• District 5 - Damascus, Gaithersburg, Hyattstown, Laytonsville (Stations 8, 9, 13, 17, 28)

Common Abbreviations/Terminolog

General Fire/Rescue

• ALS - Advanced Life Support
• BLS - Basic Life Support
• Box X-X - small division of a station's "first due7quot; area, first number is the station number, followed by a dash, and the second number is the box number (these are most commonly used to announce/identify "box alarms")
• CAD - Computer Aided Dispatch
• CO - Carbon Monoxide
• Condition Red - the ECC may declare Condition Red when call volume and/or working incidents are such that normal operating procedures cannot be followed; usually radio traffic is limited to emergency traffic only in these situations and the ECC suspends hospital notifications for all but priority 1 and 2 transports
• CRT - Collapse Rescue Team (part of Maryland Task Force 1, based at station 31)
• DEP - Department of Environmental Protection
• DFRS - Montgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue Services
• ECC - Emergency Communications Center
• EMS - Emergency Medical Services
• EMT - Emergency Medical Technician
• FM - Fire Marshal
• FPO - Fire Prevention Officer (i.e., Fire Marshal Code Enforcement)
• Hazmat - Hazardous Materials
• HIRT - Hazardous Incident Response Team (based at station 7)
• Hurst Tool - extrication device commonly known as the "jaws of life"
• Knox Box - a box located near the entrances to major buildings (apartment buildings in particular), which contain keys to the building for emergency personnel, most apparatus have a knox box key that will open any knox box in the county, ocassionally fire/rescue may be dispatched to assist the police with entry into a building
• LZ - Landing Zone (for helicopters)
• Manpower - usually requested by EMS personnel, or anyone else when additional personnel are needed; also requested to intimidate citizens in certain situations (e.g., MOs, vehicle collisions involving fire/rescue apparatus, etc.)
• MODAT - (see SMT)
• OCC - Operations Control Center (Metrorail)
• PDA - Property Damage Accident (no longer politically correct)
• PDC - Property Damage Collision
• PIA - Personal Injury Accident (no longer politically correct)
• PIC - Personal Injury Collision
• POV - Privately Owned Vehicle
• Quadrant - quadrant of a building, letters A-D, clockwise from the corner of sides 1 and 2 (A-Left Front, B-Left Back, C-Right Back, D-Right Front)
• SCBA - Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
• SETT - Special Evacuation Tactics Team
• Side # - side of building, numbered 1-4, clockwise from front (1-Front, 2-Left, 3-Back, 4-Right)
• SMT - Smart-Status Messaging Terminal (system, with controls in nearly all units, to centrally track the status of all units in the CAD system)
• SysCom - Systems Communications Center (manages dispatch and medical radio communications for Maryland State Police medevac helicopters throughout the state)
• URT - Underwater Rescue Team (based at station 29)
• USAR - Urban Search and Rescue (part of Maryland Task Force 1, based at station 31)

EMS-specific

• AED - Automated External Defibrillator
• AMI - heart attack
• Code - cardiac arrest (usually implies Working Code)
• CHF - Congestive Heart Failure
• COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• CVA - Cerebro Vascular Accident (stroke)
• DOA - Dead On Arrival (technically EMS personnel cannot pronounce death)
• ETOH - intoxicated/drunk (chemical symbol for ethyl alcohol)
• GI - Gastro-Intestinal
• LOC - Level Of Consciousness
• ME - Medical Examiner
• MI - heart attack
• MO - Mental Observation
• OB - pregnant
• One Down - a person on the ground, not moving, for unknown reason or because of chemical reasons
• Priority 1 - any condition that is life-threatening ("critical")
• Priority 2 - a condition with the potential to become life threatening ("serious")
• Priority 3 - requiring care but not on an emergency basis
• Priority 4 - no care required (may be used to refer to a DOA)
• Working Code - cardiac arrest with CPR in progress

Hospitals

• Children's - Washington, DC (Pediatric Trauma Center)
• Frederick Memorial - Frederick (Frederick County)
• Georgetown - Washington, DC
• Holy Cross - Silver Spring
• Laurel Regional - Laurel (Howard County)
• MedSTAR - (see Washington Hospital Center)
• Montgomery General - Olney
• National Naval Medical Center - Bethesda
• Shady Grove Adventist - Rockville
• Shock Trauma - Baltimore (University of Maryland Medical Center)
• Sibley Memorial - Washington, DC
• Suburban - Bethesda (Montgomery County Trauma Center)
• Union Memorial - Baltimore
• Washington Adventist - Takoma Park
• Washington Hospital Center - Washington, DC (Trauma/Burn Center)

Hospital Alert Status

• Yellow Alert - hospital closed to all but priority 1 patients
• Red Alert - no heart-monitoring beds available

Station Numbers

"Unit" Designations

• Unit designations below are as of November 9, 2000.

"FM" Designations

• FM designations below are as of November 9, 2000.