Cowlitz County Call Signs

[towerofisengard]

Hi, does anyone have more info on the call signs in Cowlitz County? I'm trying to figure out the different channels and unit identifiers. There's an old thread from 2011 with some info, but the call signs part was never posted. Here are my guesses so far from listening and doing some research:

Call syntax: Call sign, Channel, Message (i.e. One David Four, County, Stopping)

Channel	Call Sign Prefix	Department
County	1	Cowlitz County Sherriff
Kelso	2	Kelso Police
Longview	3	Longview Police
Control 1	(unit type)	All Cowlitz Fire Districts

Police call signs are in the format NumberLetterNumber (i.e. Three David Four). The first number seems to be a department identifier (1=County, 2=Kelso, 3=Longview). The meaning of the other two parts is not clear, though the thread from 2011 indicates the second part (Charlie, David, George, Nora, etc) is potentially tied to the shift/position (i.e. 2-George is the designation for the Kelso Police Graveyard Officer in Charge).

Fire department call signs seem more straightforward. There are 6 rural fire districts in addition to the Longview Fire Department. Call signs are in the format LetterNumberNumber (i.e. E81 aka Engine 8-1). This corresponds to Unit type - Fire District - Unit number. The exception to this appears to be AMR ambulances, which are always prefixed by 16 (i.e. M1632 aka Medic 16-32).

Unit Type:
A - aid unit (EMT)
BR - Brush Unit
CHF - Chief Officer
E - Engine
I - Investigation
L - Ladder
M - Medic Unit (Paramedic)
T - Truck (platform)
TE - Water Tender
R - Rescue
U - Utility

Fire Districts:
1 - Lewis River Road / Woodland area (not Woodland City)
2 - Kelso / area surrounding Longview (not Longview City). Central I-5 section.
3 - WA 504 / Silver Lake
4 - (Doesn't Exist. Formerly covered Ryderwood. Now served by Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District #20)
5 - Kalama. Southern I-5 section.
6 - Castle Rock / I-5 north to Lewis County
7 - WA 503 / Cougar
8 - Longview (city)
16 - AMR Ambulance

Anything I'm missing?

 

[towerofisengard]

Additional channel/department identifiers, with my assumed locations (I have never heard a 4 or 5, unknown if used):

Channel	Call Sign Prefix	Department
County	6	Woodland
County	7	Castle Rock?

Additional Unit Type:
S - Squad Truck

 

[mikepdx]

Excellent. A belated thank you.

Cowlitz county Sheriff and Fire database here
is incomplete at best.

I haven't seen a complete update
Since they changed to a simulcast VHF system
quite some time ago.

In the past, more than one member has assured
this forum that they could get the current info,
but that never happened.

Can anyone in the Cowlitz county area help fill in the blanks?

 

[bears223]

there soon going digital nxdn/p25 i dont know i really dont know when all this will happen

 

[bears223]

there soon going digital nxdn/p25 i dont know i really dont know when all this will happen

i live in castle rock

 

[devicelab]

Police call signs are in the format NumberLetterNumber (i.e. Three David Four). The first number seems to be a department identifier (1=County, 2=Kelso, 3=Longview). The meaning of the other two parts is not clear, though the thread from 2011 indicates the second part (Charlie, David, George, Nora, etc) is potentially tied to the shift/position (i.e. 2-George is the designation for the Kelso Police Graveyard Officer in Charge).

Anything I'm missing?

I'd be willing to bet the numeric prefix is the shift. Then the callsign would be Charlie, King or Lincoln followed by a sector/district/unit number.