I've always wondered the difference between a "Truck", "Engine", "Ladder" (I think I can guess that one), "Brush", etc., followed by a station number. Is there a wiki entry I haven't seen? Maybe a webpage somewhere? I wouldn't think it differs too much from dept. to dept. I'm in Baltimore County, MD myself.
Thanks
Truck is a ladder/ariel tower truck that didn't have a pump on-board when I was active, so needed an Engine to feed it water. Engine is your everyday fire engine. Quint is a ladder truck that has ladders but not that "cage basket" attached to it, and has engine pumps. Heavy Rescue is a engine looking thing with lots of compartments for tools and has no water capability. Tanker carries lots of water and carries a dump tank "swimming pool" so they can dump and go for another load if hydrants not working or none. They have many combos like Engine/Rescue, Engine/Tanker. Squad could mean anything depending on your area, but here its usually a utility vehicle and/or extra transport vehicle for crews. Deuce is a WW2 like 2.5 ton truck usually configured for brush fires. Cascade unit is a bottle refill vehicle that refills air bottles on scene sometimes paired with an engine or heavy squad. RIT= Rapid Intervention Team- whose job is not to fight the fire but stand bye if stuff goes bad to rescue firefighters fighting the fire. Engines are the most common as they are used for fighting fires, pumping water through multiple water lines (Especially long distance lines needed to supply water) from hydrant to another engine and/or Truck, refill site=refilling tankers, set up landing zones, the work horse. Heavy Rescues are needed at vehicle accidents the most, especially multi-vehicle/truck where a lot of cutting tools, hydro's, cribbing, air bags, jacks etc are needed. Also can be used at fires but crew needs to grab a line from an engine/truck or set up extra ladders if needed, thermal imagers/gas detectors were often on the Rescue along with some of the more specialized tools that cost too much to have on most apparatus. . A Brush unit is pretty much a pick-up to Hum-vee's set up for brush/forest fires that include shovels, bladder bags, and usually has a small 250 gal or so tank on it. These fires make the tankers important to refill tanks/bladder bags/Engines, while usually hydrants are miles away.
If you're ever near a fire just stay back and make sure you don't go near any uncharged water lines. I ounce had to shoo off a family standing right beside a 5-in hose that wasn't fully uncoiled and seconds later it went flying through the air after it was charged. That could have been ugly. I really appreciate the volunteers as the standards are so stinking crazy that you need around 200 hours of training while years ago it was well under a 100. Its also very physical demanding in all that heavy gear. I did like 1.5 hours of cardio in the gym 5 days per week and still got winded pretty quick, especially in deep snow and/or rough terrain. Much harder than it looks. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and much needed. Throw them a $20 from time to time.