By GPS- systems nowadays.
dispatchers signs a call, same time our fireengines GPS-system wakes up and red dot appears to a map.
Paper maps are still in use as backup, if and when this new "star wars"- system fails..
At old days it was that "Big tree-> left, third road to right, over the hill and far a away"
Fifefighters who now their area by street by stree,t are still irreplaceable.
Well im not rural but in are town they use reflective numbers on there house and plus when we go out for driver training we drive up & down each street so we get used to the address in the town like from the beach to the main rd .# start low at the beach and go up and each rig has GPS in it for us dummies and at the station we have a board that lights up with the address it helps out to