John,
In St. Louis County, the apparatus are numbered with 4-digit codes that read as follows:
First 2 digits: Municipality
3rd digit: House #
4th digit: apparatus type, where:
1=standard triple combination pumper,
4=rescue pumper
7=ambulance
9=Reserve Apparatus
(can't remember the rest!)
So, apparatus 3924 is the Rescue Pumper in Ladue, MO's house #2.
Not all the municipalities have reserve apparatus.
NOW, in the CITY of St. Louis, it's a little more traditional, with Engines numbered after their engine house (roughly 1 through 40, some houses/engines no longer exist), and the (four) Hook and Ladders carrying their own numbers. Rescue units are 1 and 2. 5 Battalion Chiefs are 801 through 805 corresponding to their districts, each district from 4 to 7-ish fire houses. The coolest is the Chief. He's just called "CFD", for "Chief of Fire Department".
By-the-way, when the front-line apparatus is out of service in the city, the floating reserve will fill in, and, I think, be numbered in the hundreds, ie: a 1 added to the replaced engine number. Engine 22 becomes 122.
Every Fire Fighter in the city carries a radio, and each of the (usually) 4 spots on an engine is given a letter code, so that Engine 22's Captain, when he's out of the truck/on the fireground, becomes "22-A".
Pretty cool stuff. I'm trying to figure out how to initiate Radio Service with my "Fleet". Just haven't figured out how to operate a Vigilante Fire Service.
-Michael
