Nine fire agencies from four Nevada counties and one California county have agreed to adopt and implement a standardized apparatus and station identification system.

Fire agencies from Douglas, Carson, Lyon, and Storey counties in Nevada, and Alpine County in California, will be implementing the system starting Oct. 1. Chiefs from the participating agencies realized the value of having one system for the numbering of fire stations and apparatus, even though they are all dispatched from separate dispatch centers.

Currently each agency has its own numbering system, creating conflicts with duplicated apparatus and personnel numbering on incidents where regional support and cooperation is essential. Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi developed the system, which provides each agency with a master number as the primary agency identifier. Other numbers identify the apparatus and personnel.

The group also agreed on common apparatus terminology, whereby apparatus of the same type will be referred to with the same name for that type. Currently, the regional agencies have three terms to identify an ambulance. Under the new system, an ambulance is now known as a “rescue” in all participating jurisdictions.

Fire Chief Tod Carlini from the East Fork Fire and Paramedic Districts in Douglas County said in a statement, “While this may seem like a simple step to take, it breaks with what we have been doing for at least the past 30-plus years I have been in the fire service. With the current state of our economy, moving in a direction which attempts to maximize our efforts and funding on a regional basis makes sense.”

The agencies participating include:

Douglas County:

East Fork Fire and Paramedic Districts

Tahoe-Douglas Fire Protection District

Carson City

Carson City Fire Department

Lyon County

Central Lyon County Fire Protection District

Mason Valley Fire Protection District

North Lyon County Fire Protection District

Smith Valley Fire Protection District

Storey County

Storey County Fire Department

Alpine County

Eastern Alpine County Fire Department.