Emergency Services Abbreviations
72 abbreviations · part of Government & Political Abbreviations
Abbreviations used by firefighters, 911 dispatchers, emergency managers and rescue teams, covering fire service ranks and equipment (FD, SCBA), incident command (ICS, NIMS, IC), emergency numbers and alerting systems (911, E911, WEA), hazardous materials terms (HAZMAT, IDLH) and disaster response. Many terms follow US federal doctrine and NFPA standards, with UK and international equivalents noted. Medical credentials such as EMT and paramedic are covered under medical abbreviations.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 000 | Emergency telephone number (Australia) | Australia's emergency number for police, fire and ambulance, known as "Triple Zero." It has been in use since 1961. |
| 112 | European emergency number | Single emergency telephone number used across the European Union and many other countries, connecting callers to police, fire and ambulance services. |
| 911 | Emergency telephone number (United States and Canada) | Three-digit telephone number for police, fire and ambulance emergencies in the United States, Canada and some other countries. |
| 999 | Emergency telephone number (United Kingdom) | Emergency number for police, fire, ambulance and coastguard in the United Kingdom, and also used in Ireland, Hong Kong, Malaysia and other countries. |
| AHJ | Authority having jurisdiction | Organization or official responsible for enforcing codes and approving equipment, installations or procedures, such as a fire marshal, building official or fire chief. |
| AMBER | America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response | Child abduction alert system that broadcasts information about abducted children through radio, TV, highway signs and mobile phones to enlist the public's help. |
| APCO | Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials | US-based professional association of public safety communications staff, founded in 1935, that publishes standards, trains dispatchers and advocates on radio spectrum… |
| ARES | Amateur Radio Emergency Service | Volunteer organization of licensed amateur (ham) radio operators, sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, who provide emergency communications when normal systems… |
| AVL | Automatic vehicle location | GPS-based system that tracks the real-time position of police cars, fire engines and ambulances, allowing dispatchers to send the closest available unit. |
| BC | Battalion chief | Fire service officer who commands a battalion, a group of several fire stations, during a shift. |
| BLEVE | Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion | Violent rupture of a pressurized container holding a liquid above its boiling point, such as a propane tank heated by fire, which releases a fireball and flying… |
| CAD | Computer-aided dispatch | Software used by 911 centers to log calls, track the status and location of units, recommend responders and record times for every step of an incident. |
| CBRN | Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear | Category of weapons, hazards and defensive measures involving toxic chemicals, disease agents, radioactive materials and nuclear devices. |
| CERT | Community Emergency Response Team | Program that trains volunteers in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue and first aid, so they can help their neighborhoods when… |
| DMAT | Disaster Medical Assistance Team | Team of physicians, nurses, paramedics and support staff who deploy to provide medical care during disasters, part of the US National Disaster Medical System. |
| E911 | Enhanced 911 | US emergency calling system that automatically sends the caller's phone number and location to 911 dispatchers, rather than relying on the caller to describe where they… |
| EAS | Emergency Alert System | US national warning system that lets authorities interrupt TV and radio broadcasts, cable and satellite services with emergency messages, such as severe weather… |
| ECC | Emergency communications center | Facility that receives emergency calls and dispatches police, fire and medical units, often serving several agencies or an entire county. |
| EMA | Emergency management agency | State or local government agency responsible for planning for, coordinating response to and recovering from disasters, such as a county EMA or a state agency like the… |
| EMAC | Emergency Management Assistance Compact | Agreement among all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories that allows them to share personnel, equipment and other resources during disasters, with… |
| EMD | Emergency medical dispatch | Structured system that 911 call-takers use to question callers, prioritize medical calls and give instructions such as CPR before help arrives. |
| EOC | Emergency operations center | Facility where officials from government agencies and partner organizations gather to coordinate the response to a major emergency or disaster, collecting information… |
| ERG | Emergency Response Guidebook | Guide published by the US Department of Transportation, with Canada and Mexico, that helps first responders identify hazardous materials by UN number or name and decide… |
| ESF | Emergency support function | One of 15 functional groupings under the US National Response Framework that organize federal and state assistance during disasters, such as ESF 1 transportation, ESF 6… |
| FACP | Fire alarm control panel | Central control unit of a building's fire alarm system that monitors smoke detectors, heat detectors, sprinkler flow switches and pull stations, and activates alarms… |
| FD | Fire department | Public or volunteer organization that fights fires and, in most places, also handles medical calls, rescues, hazardous materials incidents and fire prevention. |
| FDC | Fire department connection | Inlet on the outside of a building where fire engines pump water into the building's sprinkler or standpipe system. |
| FDNY | Fire Department of the City of New York | Largest fire department in the United States, with more than 10,000 firefighters and a large EMS bureau serving New York City's five boroughs. |
| FF | Firefighter | Abbreviation for a firefighter, used in rosters, reports, certification titles and before names, as in "FF Johnson." Certification levels are often written FF1 and FF2. |
| HAZMAT | Hazardous materials | Substances such as chemicals, fuels, gases and radioactive materials that can harm people, property or the environment, and the specialized teams and procedures used to… |
| IAP | Incident action plan | Written or oral plan that sets the objectives, strategies, assignments and safety measures for an incident for a set operational period, usually 12 or 24 hours. |
| IC | Incident commander | Person in overall charge of an emergency incident under the Incident Command System, responsible for setting objectives, strategies and safety. |
| ICP | Incident command post | Location from which the incident commander and command staff manage an incident, ranging from a vehicle to a building. |
| ICS | Incident Command System | Standardized management structure for emergencies that defines roles such as incident commander, operations, planning, logistics and finance, so responders from… |
| IDLH | Immediately dangerous to life or health | Exposure level of a toxic gas, vapor or oxygen deficiency that could cause death, permanent health damage or prevent escape within 30 minutes. |
| IMT | Incident management team | Group of trained personnel who fill the command and general staff roles of the Incident Command System for complex, long-running incidents such as major wildfires… |
| IPAWS | Integrated Public Alert and Warning System | FEMA-run system that lets authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial authorities send warnings through the Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency… |
| JIC | Joint information center | Location where public information officers from multiple agencies work together during a major incident to coordinate consistent messages to the media and public. |
| LAFD | Los Angeles Fire Department | Fire department of the City of Los Angeles, providing firefighting, emergency medical services and rescue across the city, including brush and wildland areas. |
| LEL | Lower explosive limit | Lowest concentration of a flammable gas or vapor in air that can ignite; below it the mixture is too lean to burn. |
| LFB | London Fire Brigade | Fire and rescue service for Greater London and one of the largest firefighting organizations in the world, with more than 100 fire stations. |
| LMR | Land mobile radio | Two-way radio systems used by police, fire, EMS and utilities for reliable voice communication through handheld, vehicle and base station radios, operating on dedicated… |
| LODD | Line-of-duty death | Death of a firefighter, police officer or other first responder while performing their duties, including from injuries, heart attacks during emergencies and some… |
| LZ | Landing zone | Area used for landing helicopters or tiltrotor aircraft to insert or extract troops and supplies. |
| MCI | Mass-casualty incident | Emergency in which the number of patients overwhelms the responding agencies' normal resources, such as a bus crash, building collapse or mass shooting. |
| NENA | National Emergency Number Association | US professional organization for 911 professionals, founded in 1982, that develops standards for 911 and Next Generation 911 systems. |
| NFPA | National Fire Protection Association | US nonprofit organization, founded in 1896, that develops hundreds of fire, electrical and building safety codes and standards adopted by governments worldwide. |
| NG911 | Next Generation 911 | Internet protocol-based upgrade of 911 systems that allows call centers to receive texts, photos, video and data and to transfer calls and information between centers… |
| NIMS | National Incident Management System | US federal framework, issued by FEMA under a 2003 presidential directive, that standardizes how agencies at every level manage incidents, including the Incident Command… |
| NRF | National Response Framework | US federal guide describing how the nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies, setting out roles for federal, state, local, tribal and private partners. |
| P25 | Project 25 | Suite of digital radio standards for public safety communications in North America, designed so radios from different manufacturers and agencies can work together. |
| PAR | Personnel accountability report | Roll call in which fire officers confirm that all members of their crews are accounted for during an incident. |
| PASS | Personal alert safety system | Small alarm device, usually built into a firefighter's SCBA, that sounds a loud, distinctive tone if the wearer stops moving for about 30 seconds, signaling that the… |
| PIO | Public information officer | Official responsible for communicating with the media and public during an emergency or for an agency in general, issuing press releases, holding briefings and running… |
| PPC | Public Protection Classification | Rating from 1 to 10 assigned to fire departments by ISO, a Verisk business, measuring a community's fire protection based on fire department resources, water supply and… |
| PPV | Positive pressure ventilation | Firefighting technique that uses powerful fans at a doorway to push smoke and heat out of a building through a planned exit opening. |
| PSAP | Public safety answering point | Call center that answers 911 calls and dispatches or transfers them to police, fire or EMS. |
| RACES | Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service | Amateur radio service established under FCC rules in 1952, in which licensed operators provide emergency communications for government agencies during disasters. |
| RIT | Rapid intervention team | Crew of firefighters assigned to stand by at an incident with tools and spare air, ready to rescue firefighters who become trapped, lost or injured. |
| RNLI | Royal National Lifeboat Institution | Charity that runs a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service around the coasts of the UK and Ireland, mostly crewed by volunteers, and provides lifeguards on many… |
| SAR | Search and rescue | Operations to locate and help people who are lost, injured or in distress, on land, at sea, in mountains or in disaster zones. |
| SCBA | Self-contained breathing apparatus | Breathing system worn by firefighters and hazmat teams, consisting of a compressed-air cylinder, regulator and face mask, which provides clean air in smoke and toxic… |
| SDS | Safety data sheet | Standardized document that suppliers must provide with hazardous chemicals, describing hazards, safe handling, first aid, firefighting, storage and exposure limits in… |
| SOG | Standard operating guideline | Written department procedure describing how firefighters or other responders should handle specific situations, such as high-rise fires, vehicle extrications or mayday… |
| START | Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment | Mass casualty triage method that sorts patients within seconds by ability to walk, breathing, perfusion and mental status into immediate (red), delayed (yellow), minor… |
| TIC | Thermal imaging camera | Handheld or helmet-mounted camera that displays heat rather than visible light, letting firefighters see through smoke to find victims, hot spots and fire spread. |
| UC | Unified command | Incident Command System arrangement in which leaders from multiple agencies with jurisdiction, such as fire, police and public health, jointly manage an incident and… |
| USAR | Urban search and rescue | Specialized teams that locate, extricate and treat people trapped in collapsed buildings and other structures after earthquakes, explosions and hurricanes. |
| VFD | Volunteer fire department | Fire department staffed mainly or entirely by unpaid or minimally paid volunteers, the most common type of fire department in the United States. |
| WEA | Wireless Emergency Alerts | US public-alert system that broadcasts urgent messages, such as AMBER alerts, extreme weather warnings and national alerts, to all compatible phones in an affected… |
| WMD | Weapon of mass destruction | Weapon capable of killing large numbers of people, typically nuclear, radiological, chemical or biological, and under US federal law also certain explosive devices. |
| WUI | Wildland-urban interface | Zone where homes and other development meet or mix with undeveloped forest, brush or grassland, where wildfires pose the greatest risk to communities. |