Actions

Whatcom County (WA)

From The RadioReference Wiki

Whatcom County Sheriff's Office


Designators

Area Agency Personnel & Unit Designators on WCSO Frequencies:

  • Adam = Whatcom County sheriff personnel numbers
  • Edward = Everson police personnel numbers
  • Frank = Ferndale police personnel numbers
  • George = Ferndale police on-duty sector & supervisor units
  • Henry = Lummi tribal police on-duty sector & supervisor units
  • Ida = Lummi tribal police personnel numbers
  • Omaha = Customs and Border Protection helicopter
  • Sam = Whatcom County Sheriff on-duty sector & supervisor units
  • Tom = Nooksack tribal police
  • Victor = Everson police on-duty sector & supervisor units


WCSO Personnel Designators - first number:

  • 1 = staff (as in 1 Adam 2)
  • 2 = sergeants (as in 2 Adam 100)
  • 3 = detectives (as in 3 Adam 125)
  • 4 = patrol deputies (as in 4 Adam 184)
  • 5 = traffic deputies (as in 5 Adam 92)
  • 9 = volunteers (as in 9 Adam 623)
  • 11 = corrections officers (as in 11 Adam 109)


WCSO Shift Designators - first number:

  • 1 = day shift (as in 1 Sam 2)
  • 2 = swing shift
  • 3 = graveyard shift


WCSO Patrol Sector & Special Designators - last number(s):

  • 1, 2, 3, etc. = sectors (as in 1 Sam 2)
  • 20's = sergeants
  • 30's = investigators
  • 40's = K-9 units
  • 50's = traffic deputies (50 is traffic sergeant)


City Of Bellingham and Whatcom County

Bellingham Fire Department and Whatcom County Fire Districts

Unit Designators

  • Prospect: Fire and Medical Dispatch for all of Whatcom County. Located inside of BFD Station 1. It's named Prospect because it used to be located on Prospect St in downtown Bellingham.
  • Chief 1 - Bellingham Fire Chief
  • Battalion 1 - On duty operations Battalion Chief
  • Engines 1-6 - Front line engine companies
  • Ladder 6 - Cross Staffed with Engine 6
  • Ladder 2 - Reserve ladder truck
  • Haz Mat 98 - A smaller version of the unit above. A F450 chassis with a custom box on the back housed at Station 6.
  • Aid 1-6: Aid ambulances cross manned with their respective engine numbers.
  • Medic 1-2 - Medic units stationed at Bellingham Station One.
  • Medic 3 - Medic unit stationed north of Ferndale at Grandview Rd
  • Medic 4 - Medic unit stationed on E. Smith Rd.


  • EMS 6 (red pickup truck) - On duty shift Medic Captain. Responds to major calls in the city of bellingham as well as in whatcom county. (i.e. CPR in progress, Major car accidents, etc).
  • EMS 1 - Medic 1 Division Chief
  • EMS 109 - Medical Program Director (If he gets paged to a call, the world is ending somewhere in the county)
  • 11, 12, 13's - District 4. Includes the areas of the Britain Rd, and a portion of the Mt. Baker Highway. Directly adjacent to the east of Bellingham city limits
  • 20's - South Whatcom Fire Authority
  • 30's belong to District 8, Lummi Island and Bellingham Airport.
  • 40's belong to District 7, which covers the ferndale area.
  • 50's - District 5, BP Cherry Point Fire, District 17
  • 60's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue
  • 70's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and Lynden Fire Department. Aid, Engine, and Rescue 75 are part of city of Lynden Fire. Lynden Fire Department will often be referred to as 'liberty' over the air.
  • 81, 82 - District 1 - Everson, Nooksack, Nugents Corner.
  • 84-87 - District 16 and 19
  • 90's - District 14 - Sumas, Kendal, Mt. Baker Ski Area (and the area in between)

(Excludes Hazmat 98, which is operated by the city of Bellingham)

Now some special use units that are one of a kind:

  • Air 43 - Essentially a giant air compressor on the back of a truck designed to refill air bottles at the scene of a fire.
  • Rehab 43 - A mini-bus converted into a supply unit. It's sorta the water cooler for during and after a fire.

Bellingham Police Department

Unit Designators

  • Boy = staff personnel numbers (1 Boy 1 = chief)
  • David = detectives (David 1 = detective sergeant, David 2, 3, etc. = detectives)
  • King = warrant officers (King 6, etc.)
  • Ocean = sergeants' and officers' personnel numbers (Ocean 187, etc. - usually their badge number)
  • Paul = patrol sector designators (Paul 1, 2, etc.), patrol sergeants (Paul 20, 21, etc.), traffic sergeant (Paul 50), traffic officers (Paul 51, 52, etc.), parking enforcement officers (Paul 71, 72, etc.), senior volunteers (Paul 76)
  • Robert = school resource officers (Robert 5, etc.) - alternately, reserve officers?
  • Zebra = Special Investigations Unit (Zebra 1 = SIU sergeant, Zebra 2, 3, etc. = SIU detectives

City of Everson

The city of Everson is dispatched on the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office dispatch frequency, 453.32500

  • Edward = Everson police personnel numbers
  • Victor = Everson police sector units

City of Ferndale

The city of Ferndale is dispatched by the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office.

  • Frank = Ferndale police personnel numbers
  • George = Ferndale police sector units

Customs Border Protection

Unit Designators For This Area

100 - Admin
200 - Blaine Units
300 - Bellingham Units
400 - Lynden Units (Guide Meridian Station)
500 -
600 - Sumas Police
700 -
800 - Blaine Police
900 - Air/Marine Units?

Amateur Radio




Return to DB page: Whatcom County (WA)
Return to Wiki page: Washington Counties