Here at work, we have a list of all the firefighters (and their assignments) who died in the WTC bombing. Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in NY between a rescue unit and a squad?
Nit: It’s FDNY, not NYFD. Carry on.
I knew that - I was just testing to see who knew the real answer.
There are five Rescue Companies in the FDNY, each in its own house, one each to a boro. These are not regular fire houses, they respond to major catastrophies and are staffed by the finest of the bravest.
I’m not sure what the ‘squad’ refers to. It seems separate from a ladder company or an engine company.
On Emergency!, when they call for “squad 51” it means they only want the paramedics, not the whole station.
:God, I’m so lame:
As far as I know the FDNY does not use the term squad (Was that term used on the list?). As stated above Rescue responds to major catatrophies. Engines and Ladders respond to more common fires. There are also Hazardous Material response teams that report to well… hazardous material calls of course. I don’t know how many Haz Mats there are though.
You will not find an ambulance waiting in a fire house. So in the “Emergency” senario above this wouldn’t happen in NYC.
All FDNY recruits are CFR certified (for about the last 6 years) and they do not perform as extensive treatment as EMS. EMS and FDNY were seperate of each other. Rudy decided to merge the two for a better response time to 911 medical calls.
Sorry about that failed attempt at levity, NYR407. Emergency! was set in the days when paramedics were specially-trained firemen, not the EMTs they are today. 
No Knead to apologize.
Well as far as I know now, FDNY does use the term squad. I will have to get back to you how a Squad differs from the others.
That is, if you are still interested.
FDNY’s Squad units are kind of a link between a “normal” engine company and the 5 rescue companies. The squads carry more in the way of specialized equipment (jaws/cutters, etc). There are seven Squad companies in New York City (Squads 1, 18, 41, 61, 252, 270, and 288).
Just to clarify…I don’t claim to be an expert in FDNY stuff. Boston, sure. FDNY, no.