To the out-of-towners and the younger St. Louis area buffs who don't know the origin, St. Louis County began implementing the 4 digit numbering system in late 1989. Prior to that, some of the 42 county departments and districts shared the same numbers, though they were miles apart. A few examples: Affton and Ferguson both used the '30' series; Affton 1114 used to be 31 and Ferguson 3014 used to be 31; Mehlville 1710 used to be 21 and Berkeley 3615 was also 21 (though it was before they had the Smeal quint). Some departments/districts used 2 digits for their units and some used 3, depending on what part of the county they were in.
The 4 digit numbering system was implemented to organize things and differentiate what kind of unit was which and do away with different departments using the same numbers, as pointed out in the examples above. Now it was clear which units were pumpers, rescue pumpers, quints, rescue quints, aerials, ambulances, rescue trucks, tankers (tenders), brush trucks (wildland vehicles), boats, utility vehicles, and air cascade trucks/trailers, and from which station(s) the units were responding from.
Prior to that, some of the numbers didn't make sense. For example, Shrewsbury's pumper was 507 and the ambulance was 509. Webster Groves' pumpers were 501 and 503, and their ladder was 502. In some parts of St. Louis County, if the unit number ended with a '9' it was designated as an aerial device. So Webster 502 technically should have been 509. Clayton's aerial platform was 319, which made sense. But Mehlville's 1973 Seagrave ladder truck was Ladder 1. Frontenac's only pumper was 385 (instead of 381); Richmond Heights' only (front line) pumper was 424 (instead of 421); some ambulance numbers ended in '16','17', or '18', or '05', '06' or '07'. Ballwin's (Metro West) ambulances numbers were 326, 337 and 338, for example. So there were a mish-mash of numbers and no rhyme-or-reason as to why which numbers were used in which way, except that the different dispatch agencies numbered them that way.
The only St. Louis County department that didn't go to 4 digits was Brentwood. Their pumpers are 411 (front line) and 412 (reserve), and the ambulances are 407 (front line) and 497(reserve). Their designated St. Louis County agency number is 25. North Central Fire Alarm used to dispatch 411 as 2510 when dispatching them on a 2nd or 3rd Alarm (for example, to Mid County's district), but they no longer do that.
The 4 digit numbering system was implemented to organize things and differentiate what kind of unit was which and do away with different departments using the same numbers, as pointed out in the examples above. Now it was clear which units were pumpers, rescue pumpers, quints, rescue quints, aerials, ambulances, rescue trucks, tankers (tenders), brush trucks (wildland vehicles), boats, utility vehicles, and air cascade trucks/trailers, and from which station(s) the units were responding from.
Prior to that, some of the numbers didn't make sense. For example, Shrewsbury's pumper was 507 and the ambulance was 509. Webster Groves' pumpers were 501 and 503, and their ladder was 502. In some parts of St. Louis County, if the unit number ended with a '9' it was designated as an aerial device. So Webster 502 technically should have been 509. Clayton's aerial platform was 319, which made sense. But Mehlville's 1973 Seagrave ladder truck was Ladder 1. Frontenac's only pumper was 385 (instead of 381); Richmond Heights' only (front line) pumper was 424 (instead of 421); some ambulance numbers ended in '16','17', or '18', or '05', '06' or '07'. Ballwin's (Metro West) ambulances numbers were 326, 337 and 338, for example. So there were a mish-mash of numbers and no rhyme-or-reason as to why which numbers were used in which way, except that the different dispatch agencies numbered them that way.
The only St. Louis County department that didn't go to 4 digits was Brentwood. Their pumpers are 411 (front line) and 412 (reserve), and the ambulances are 407 (front line) and 497(reserve). Their designated St. Louis County agency number is 25. North Central Fire Alarm used to dispatch 411 as 2510 when dispatching them on a 2nd or 3rd Alarm (for example, to Mid County's district), but they no longer do that.
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