How to write a wiki page

Introduction

Thanks for visiting this page. If you're here, it means that you're thinking of contributing to the wiki. Hopefully this page will answer all of your questions. If this is your first time contributing, it would also be useful to take a quick look at the Code of Conduct and the Simplified Ruleset first.

How to Start

If you have an account and you're logged in (and we encourage you to create one), you can click on the little page icon in the upper right. Otherwise, click here.
Check first to make sure that the page you're trying to create doesn't already exist under that name or a variation. Check also to see if there are any other departments by the same or similar name in different states or provinces.
In the box, type in the name of the fire department you want to add. For the most part, this is pretty straightforward, e.g. "Fishbite Falls Fire Department." You may find instances where variations of the name exist - for example, the municipal site calls it "Fire Department," the Facebook page uses "Fire & Rescue" and the trucks are marked "Volunteer Fire Department." Get as close to the current and official name as you can.
If multiple departments with the same name exist in other states or provinces, include it in brackets after the department name, e.g. Fishbite Falls Fire Department (Michigan).
If multiple departments of the same name exist in the same state/province, include the county and state/province in brackets after the department name, e.g. Fishbite Falls Fire Department (Wayne County, Michigan).
- When naming, the key is to make the article easy to find. You may know that the Fishbite Falls Volunteer Fire Department is in Michigan and Fishbite Falls Fire & Rescue is in Pennsylvania, but adding the states/provinces/counties as necessary ensures that people less familiar can find what they're looking for.
Start typing the article in the box provided, using the wiki syntax. A typical roster would look like this (in the source editor). Syntax like square brackets won't show up on the page or in the visual editor, as they're just foundational elements for building the page; i.e. the brackets are for linking to other pages on the wiki:

==Apparatus Roster==
All pump/tank measurements are in [[Insert units of measurement here]] - [[Imperial gallons]] for Canadian departments, [[US gallons]] for American departments, and [[litres]] for the rest of the world).

===Fire Station 1 - 123 King Street===
''Built 1985''
:'''Pump 1''' - 2004 [[Spartan]] [[Gladiator]] / [[Fort Garry]] (1050/500/50F) - (the : indents the line and makes it easier to keep everything apart)     

===Fire Station 2 - 456 Commercial Road===
:'''Pump 2'''- 1999 Freightliner FL80 / [[E-One]] (1050/1000/25F)

[[Category:Fishbite River County]]
[[Category:xyz state/province departments operating Fort Garry apparatus]] - adds a category that makes it easier to group stuff.

And like this in the visual editor:

Apparatus Roster

All pump/tank measurements are in US gallons.

Fire Station 1 - 123 Main Street

Built 2002

Engine 1 - 2023 Pierce Enforcer (1250/500/30F) (SN#40100)
Ladder 1 - 2018 Rosenbauer Commander (1000/500/100' rear-mount platform)

Structure

Organization

Generally, stations are listed in numerical order, or alphabetical order (name) if they are unnumbered.

Larger departments may be organized into divisions (battalions, commands, zones, etc.). If this is the case, the divisions are listed in numerical or alphabetical order, and the stations within those divisions in numerical or alphabetical order even where this causes the station numbering to be out of order overall.

==Apparatus Roster==
===Division 1 (North)===
====Station 8 - 1 North Main Street====
===Division 2 (South)===
====Station 1 - 9 South Main Street====

Do not include the province / state or postal / Zip codes in the station address. If the street number is not known or does not exist, cross streets can be added if the station is located at an intersection.

Units in the same group (e.g. the same station) adhere to the following structure, in order of precedence: For current apparatus:

Assignment number ascending (e.g. Engine 1, Ladder 2, Engine 5)
In the following order: pumpers (including rescue pumpers and mini-pumpers), aerials, tankers, brush trucks, rescues / hazmats, ambulances, other
Active units before antique/parade units
Serial number ascending

For the Retired Apparatus section:

Chronologically by model year from newest to oldest
Shop number descending
Serial number descending

Notation

The general syntax for apparatus is:

[assignment] [(ALS) or (BLS) or (ALS/BLS)] [(Antique/Parade)] [(Reserve)] [shop number] - [vehicle description] [/ body manufacturer] [specifications] [serial number] [license plate] [VIN] [historical info (e.g. former assignments)]

The vehicle description includes the delivery/model year, make, and model of the vehicle, if known. The body manufacturer is only included where different from the vehicle manufacturer. If the drivetrain (e.g. 4x4 or 6x4) is not specified in the vehicle description, it is assumed to be 4x2.
Specifications are written (pump(s) volume/water tank size/foam tank size and class/aerial device length and type).
If the vehicle's assignment indicates its type (e.g. Engine 5, Pumper 15, Tanker 6), do not add a redundant descriptor (pump, aerial, tanker, etc.). For instance:
- Engine 58 - 1999 Freightliner FL80 / E-One (1050/1000/25F) (no description needed)
- Unit 508 - 1999 Freightliner FL80 / E-One pumper (1050/1000/25F) (description added)
When listing appratus types, Engines (both structual and wildland), are denoted by standard numbers, while EMS units are listed with roman numerals. For example:
- Engine 27 - 1990 International 4900 4x4 / H&W Type 2 (1500/750)
- Medic 28 - 2009 Ford F-450 / MedTec Type I 147" module
Serial numbers, if known, can be listed after the pump/tank capacity, in a similar format; in parentheses with "SN#" before it, like so: (SN#12345). If there are two or more serial numbers, the use of the SN template simplifies presenting the data.
For ladder trucks, the length of the aerial, the mounting position of it, and whether it is a straight ladder or ladder with a bucket (i.e. mid-mount (ladder/platform), rear-mount (ladder/platform), or tractor drawn), are listed after the pump/tank capacity, such as (1500/500/100 mid-mount platform). If the truck doesn't have either, you can have just a dash (-) to indicate that it doesn't have one, i.e. (-/-/100' rear-mount).
- In certain cases, when the brand/manufacturer/type of aerial is different or distinct enough from the rest of the truck, it would go after the length of the aerial, but before the positioning of it, i.e. (1500/500/100' Ascendant mid-mount platform) or (750/500/65' Tele-Squrt).
Similarly, with rescue trucks, you can specify whether it is walk-in (where you can enter the rescue box) or walk-around (where you cannot), after the year/make/model. If it has features of both (say, part of the box is a walk-in), you can say it's a combination rescue.
Also, with tanker/tender trucks, you can specify if it's an elliptical (exposed oval tank), wetside (exposed rectangular tank), or dryside (rectangular tank enclosed by additional compartments); with the same formatting as rescue trucks.
Sometimes, you would also want to specify whether a truck has dual rear axles (in the case of many ladder trucks, tanker trucks, some rescues, etc); and to do that, you would put either "6x4" or "tandem", also after the year/make/model.
You should use the template {{USGal}} instead of explicitly writing "All pump/tank measurements are in US gallons." The alternative for Imperial gallons is {{ImpGal}}.

Helpful Hints for Wiki Text

Create a heading by typing ==, and === for a subheading. If necessary, you can make 4 levels of subheadings in total; with 4, 5, and 6 equals signs respectively.
Use bullet points (an asterisk (*)) or : (colon key) to indent the line and make things easier to read. The initial wiki practice was to use colons, but as truck listings have expanded to include more information, bullet points have become the norm. They are often necessary to ensure that rosters are readable.
Bold text by putting three single quotation marks ( ''' ) before and after the text you want to embolden.
Italicizing text is similar to bolding it, but with two single quotation marks ('') instead of three.
Templates are inserted via the top bar in the visual editor, or typing two sets of curly brackets "{{" , to bring up the template menu.
If you want to add a image to a page, you can use [[File:abc.jpg|left|thumb|200x200px]] (with the first part being a placement for the image on the page, the second denoting it as a thumbnail, and the third denoting the size of the image, by length and height in pixels). Everything except "File", the colon after it, and the opening and closing brackets are technically optional, but the full image may be very big if you don't set a size for it.
In some cases, if a department houses trucks that are owned by a county fire department, in addition to their own trucks; you would indicate that using a ^superscript, (made by typing <sup> </sup>, making the text smaller and positioning it at the upper left corner of the preceding text) dollar sign ($), put after the pump/tank capacity, and with the explainer sentence (^$ denotes county ownership) put in a bulleted list after the "All pump/tank measurements are in US gallons." at the top of the page before the apparatus roster.
Don't forget to add a category to your page, so that related pages can be easily found (I.e. county, operator of certain apparatus, etc). You can do that using the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page, or by adding it in manually in the source editor; by typing a pair of square brackets, "Category:", putting in the one you're looking for (if it doesn't come up in the autocomplete popup), and then closing it with another square bracket pair.

Copying & Pasting

Please do not simply copy and paste from department websites, Wikipedia or anywhere else. If it's worth including, it's worth writing in your own words. It's fine to use other websites as a source (ideally referenced) but we don't need to duplicate word for word information that's already available elsewhere. Cut & pasted text may be rewritten or simply removed.

Linking Photos

Photos can be linked with single square brackets on either end of the text. Generally, photos are linked to the apparatus assignment (e.g. Engine 1) and occasionally the shop number, if there is one. Former assignments can be linked under the "Ex" references in the same manner - "Engine 1" in Ex-Engine 1 would be linked to the photo.

Please do not link to photos on Discord as these expire in 14 days. Also, don't link to Facebook photos opened in a new tab (links beginning in "scontent") as they expire after about a month. Linking to regular Facebook photo links is fine. Instagram links are also fine, but the actual photo is very small on PC or laptop. Generally though, links to sites that do not require an account is preferred.

Finally, Flickr URLs copied from a browser can be of varying length, but only the first few sections are required for the link to work. For instance, this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnysquad/52755672402/in/photostream/

Can be shortened to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnysquad/52755672402

Flickr URLs typically consist of the domain (flickr.com) plus "photos" plus the account name (fdnysquad in this case) and a number. Anything after this number is unnecessary for the link to work and can be deleted. There's also an arrow icon on the bottom right of the screen that will create a shortened link. These work well too.

If you add photos, please try to maintain the links. Sometimes URLs change when sites are revamped and other times accounts go dormant. If you see a dead link, please delete it.

Conclusion

That's pretty much it. If you've read through this whole article and still have questions, the general Fandom Community wiki has tons of help pages, with plenty of information within. And above all else - Be Kind, Courteous, and Respectful; and Happy Editing!