An ambulance station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of ambulance vehicles and their medical equipment, as well as working and living space for their staff. Ambulance stations have facilities for maintaining ambulance vehicles, such as a charger for the vehicles' batteries.London Ambulance
". URL last accessed 2008-10-17 They have space for storing and maintaining medical equipment, and sometimes a fuel pump. There will also be facilities for the crews, including a kitchen and showers. It varies as to whether crews routinely wait at the station itself for call-outs (as full-time

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s do). If they do, then the station usually have an alerting system. Larger stations may have a manager's office or training rooms. In some instances, ambulance stations may be co-located with, or integral to, other emergency service facilities, such as

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

s or

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

s, especially where the ambulance service is run by the

fire department A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

. In fire departments that run the

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

, it is common for ambulances to be based at separate stations, which are usually shared with a

fire apparatus A firefighting apparatus (North American English) or firefighting appliance (UK English) describes any vehicle that has been customized for use during firefighting operations. These vehicles are highly customized depending on their needs and the d ...

. Examples of this include the

Chicago Fire Department The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides firefighting services along with emergency medical response services, hazardous materials mitigation services, and technical rescue response services in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, un ...

, Phoenix Fire Department and

Los Angeles County Fire Department The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) provides firefighting and emergency medical services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, California, as well as 59 cities through Contract city, contracting, including the city of ...

(as depicted in ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

''). In other emergency medical services, ambulance stations are centralized hubs where crews start and end their shifts, but they usually drive to "standby points" to await call-outs. This arrangement is common in independent ambulance services and is also used in the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fi ...

. Since the 1990s, there has been a trend in the United Kingdom to reduce the number of ambulance stations and rely on standby points to keep all areas covered.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambulance Station Ambulance services Ambulances