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 is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

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 engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

s or

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

s, especially where the ambulance service is run by the

fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

. In fire departments that run the

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

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

fire apparatus A firefighting apparatus describes any vehicle that has been customized for use during firefighting operations. These vehicles are highly customized depending on their needs and the duty they will be performing. These duties can include firefigh ...

. Examples of this include the

Chicago Fire Department The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, rescue services, Hazardous Materials Response services and emergency medical response services to the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chi ...

Phoenix Fire Department The Phoenix Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona. The department responded to 186,594 calls during 2014–2015, with 88% being for emergency medical services. ...

and

Los Angeles County Fire Department The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) provides firefighting services as well as technical rescue services, hazardous materials response services and emergency medical response services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County ...

(as depicted in ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American 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 the two short-lived 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 an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

. 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