Fleet shots

Digital Archives are so fun to peruse. So many archives...so little time.:p
Great finds......Kerr's (since 1905) is still in business, same location although architecturally changed somewhat.

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Rural/Metro actually got started in the area of 4th. Ave. & McDowell Rd. which is considered downtown Phoenix today. At that time it was part of the "country". I've got a copy of this photo (and several others) around here somewhere, I'll have to see if I can find them. My very poor memory wants to date it in 1953(?), but don't bet any money on that.

I don't know how many folks on here are familiar with David Franks (Dave's Model Toys). He would be in this photo somewhere. He is the source of all the old Rural/Metro photos I've got.
 
Attila Bethlenfalvy said:
Undated Rural/Metro FD which served unincorporated area north of Phoenix.

From Louis A. Witzeman Collection and courtesy University of Arizona Special Collections.

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http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/collections/louis-witzeman-collection-ruralmetro-corporation-records
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Some nice old trucks (and cars). Did you notice the big red light in the front grille on the '50/'51 Ford car? Texas DPS did that around '50-'51, using a red Federal PropelloRay in that spot.
 
Russell Street said:
Rural/Metro actually got started in the area of 4th. Ave. & McDowell Rd. which is considered downtown Phoenix today. At that time it was part of the "country". I've got a copy of this photo (and several others) around here somewhere, I'll have to see if I can find them. My very poor memory wants to date it in 1953(?), but don't bet any money on that.

I don't know how many folks on here are familiar with David Franks (Dave's Model Toys). He would be in this photo somewhere. He is the source of all the old Rural/Metro photos I've got.
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Is this the same Rural/Metro as the ambulance co. that's seen all over the Southwest, much like AMR? I thought that R/M only dated back to the '70s.
 
Skip Goulet said:
Is this the same Rural/Metro as the ambulance co. that's seen all over the Southwest, much like AMR? I thought that R/M only dated back to the '70s.
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Skip, yes it is the same company. When I started with them they only ran an ambulance in the Care Free/Cave Creek (Sta.15) area. Shortly after that they started to branch out and got real big, real fast (there's a sure recipe for disaster).

At that time, they also were very heavy into the "Security" business. They ran several Patrol Units in ares like Ahwatukee, Rio Verde, and a couple areas out in the west valley. They also sold and monitored alarm systems, including the original necklace type EMS alarm ("help, I've fallen and I can't get up...").

Those were the good old days, listening to all that junk coming over our fire radios!!!!
 
Russell Street said:
Skip, yes it is the same company. When I started with them they only ran an ambulance in the Care Free/Cave Creek (Sta.15) area. Shortly after that they started to branch out and got real big, real fast (there's a sure recipe for disaster).

At that time, they also were very heavy into the "Security" business. They ran several Patrol Units in ares like Ahwatukee, Rio Verde, and a couple areas out in the west valley. They also sold and monitored alarm systems, including the original necklace type EMS alarm ("help, I've fallen and I can't get up...").

Those were the good old days, listening to all that junk coming over our fire radios!!!!
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Thanks, Russell. Rural Metro had offices in Big Spring (40 mi. east of me) and Abilene for some time but have since left. I'm not sure that they're even in Texas anymore. The Abilene EMS is now known as MetroCare and is owned by Steve Diamond. I can just imagine what you hear on those old fire radios back then. The Big Spring R/M replaced Alert Ambulance which had been in Big Spring since 1966, but under a couple of different owners. The original owner of Alert Ambulance was Bruce Frasier, who had been a local TV personality for years. His family owned the local nursing home, and because Bruce didn't get along well with the owner of then-Big Spring Ambulance, he bought a 1958 ex-military Pontiac ambulance just to cover the nursing home. Suddenly one night the ambulance co. owner notified the city that as of midnight they were shutting down. That left Bruce as the sole ambulance in Big Spring. So they mobilized by adding three more ambulance as quickly as they could; and they ran it through the nursing home. I worked there the summer of '66. So here's what you would like. The ambulances were equipped with the old state-wide lowband radios to talk to the PD and S.O. In those day, lowband was just like C.B.: you could here all over the place. One evening we had gotten most of the nursing home residents settled, and a couple of people who weren't that bad off liked to sit outside. So one of the nurses and I had gone outside with them. One of the ambulances sat just outside our door so I had sat down and turned on the radio just to listen. Suddenly I heard a unit asking dispatch where the ambulance was...that there were people hurt badly. And our "hotline" hadn't rung! And the dispatcher told them that the ambulance should be there any minute. I was about to reach for the mic and tell the dispatcher that we hadn't even been called out when the cop told the dispatcher that the ambulance was now there. What?, I thought. Then the dispatcher cleared with her location and call sign. Turns out that it was a small town way down near Beaumont..500 miles from us! And I thought that the C.B. skip travelled!
 
Like Skip..... I didn't realize that Rural-Metro was that old of a company. They have been the (exclusive) providers for the City of San Diego for a number of years. About two years ago they got in hot water over some multi-million dollar "billing errors" (in their favor).... but someway "lawyered" their way out of it (asked for forgiveness) and are still here. They run all 1-Ton Chevy or Ford Box Ambulances that are "dipped in red" and devoid of any extra chrome or polished aluminum. MM
 
The W & D starting lineup for 2013...

Finally got a lead car that matches color...
 

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and presenting...

Presenting the second string of the fleet, they run airport runs, crematory runs, and sometimes the long distance calls...
'92 S & S, '90 Superior, '81 S & S, '77 S & S...
(The photos of the 73 and 76 M-M's though are retired from service "apparatus"...)
 

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Kent Dorsey said:
Finally got a lead car that matches color...
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Kent: My personal car is a 2012 Chrysler 300 (like your lead car) only in all WHITE with 40-K trouble-free miles so far. I just got back from a quick loop to Texas and Oklahoma from Southern CA and it averaged 32 MPG. MM
 
Early 60's North Ambulance- Minneapolis

The station wagon in the middle was referred to as the "doctor's car". One of the security guards would drive an ER doctor to the scene of critical incidents. (Paul Knutson photo.)
 

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