TNMCorps Structure: Fire / EMS Station
Fire / EMS Station: A building that contains fire‐fighting equipment and personnel or a provider of combined fire‐fighting and rescue services.
Fire Station / EMS Station
The Guidelines define Fire Stations and EMS Stations as follows:
A building that contains fire‐fighting equipment and personnel or a provider of combined fire‐fighting and rescue services.
- INDICATORS: Houses a fire engine.
INCLUDES: Buildings that contain fire response equipment and serve as a location to which fire personnel report before being dispatched into the community. May also provide combined emergency medical services operations and/or rescue services.
DOES NOT INCLUDE: Ambulance stations not part of fire-fighting services, facilities for equipment storage only (i.e., no dispatch), fire hall meeting facilities, training facilities without fire-fighting services.
What is a Fire Station / EMS Station?
The basic requirement for a Fire Station/EMS Station is that the structure contains a fire engine. It may or may not also house an ambulance. Fire personnel visit the station on a regular basis to keep the equipment clean and shiny and ready to go, and before being dispatched into the community for an emergency. It may only have volunteer responders and not full-time personnel on site.
Where can I find authoritative lists of Fire Stations?
Fire department web pages are the best source of data but may not specify the locations of stations. Fire Departments in smaller and/or rural communities may have their own Facebook page in place of a website.
Page six of our July 2017 Newsletter below has an infographic on Facebook as an authoritative source.
County and city websites also often have information about fire departments through their emergency management offices. The US Fire Administration has the most complete nationwide list of fire departments; however, this data may be dated and not complete. Their list is the result of a voluntary National Fire Department Census wherein during the years 2001 to 2004 fire departments filled out and handed in survey forms. The USFA is "continuously working to encourage more fire departments to participate in the census," however, since the original census now is almost 20 years old, some of the information is out of date. The list can be downloaded for the entire nation or by state. The list is by fire department, so it will tell you how many stations a Fire Department has, but not where they are. There may be some contact information, such as address, phone number, and website.
Where do I place a Fire Station/EMS Station?
Most fire stations have one building. If this is the case, place the point at the center of the building. If the fire station operates out of the same building as a City Hall / Town Hall and/or law enforcement office, space the points out on the building so that they are not overlapping.
For more information on how to identify a Fire Station, check out the newsletter article titled Aerial Photo Interpretation Part 3: Fire Stations/EMS below.
How do I name a Fire Station/EMS Station?
Try to find out the official name of the station; it often has the format: <fire-department-name> <station-name>. For example "Denver Fire Department Station 1". Official station names sometimes have either a "-" or a "/" in the station name, and while the Attribute Guidelines say that special characters should be avoided, they can be used if necessary to document an official fire station name.
