wcr20

One of my favorites along these lines was just the opposite message... "Respond with Caution" - One of the towns i used to ride used that all the time to tell the ambulance or medic that the call was either no big deal, or at least under control, but it used to really irk me - Like what do you think I'm doing? Bouncing the rig off the other cars like a pinball on my way across town??!! Like otherwise i'm flying along at low altitude, "responding with reckless abandon"! Gee, I guees that STILL irks me...

I have to agree with that 100% - although i was in ems, not fire in Westchester. However, during college i was in the FD/EMS in Tompkins Co NY - (early 80's), and even back then they had a system that made sense... where x or xx is the department # in alphabetical order... Engines were xx01, xx02, etc Ladders xx31... Rescue/utility xx41... Ambulance/EMS xx51 Chiefs/officers xx61 Chiefs/officers portables xx71 On duty/On call xx81... etc. - so if you heard a number you know exactly who/where/what you were talking to. ( OK - i don't remember what, if anything had the 10s 20s and 90's but this was 25 years ago.... lol) Oh - and everything fire and ems related was central dispatched by the county - 1 psap for fire/ems Dave

pcrvac (port chester rye) used to forward their emergency line to a service from 6a to 6p - around 10 years ago

Actually - Harrison ran 4 for a while as well - 2 current (at the time) model trucks ("71" & "72"),and 2 older units that were reserve/3rd /4th due: "73"- a hightop, short chassis chevy van that was originally from the New York Road Runners Club - obtained and refurbished by an HVAC member after a wreck in NYC (as I recall), as well as "74" - an old Ford low-top window van that was one of the (2) original Harrison PD ambulances - got pictures of most of them somewhere. the Chevy was sold off (to a friend of mine) to use as a work van, the ford was traded in along with one of the newer trucks to a dealer. I dont remember all the details.