Tower developmental and instructor described a confused runway crossing event involving two vehicles...

Narrative:

It occurred just after the position relief briefing and assuming control of the position. We were landing runway xxl and departing runway yyr in VFR conditions. I am in training on ground control and I had multiple vehicles to cross multiple active runways. County operations vehicle was to cross runway xxl on runway yyl and a fire truck was to cross runway yyr at taxiway sierra. Local control initiated the crossing approval request for the fire truck with; 'cross runway yyr at sierra.' I heard local initiate the request and I then proceeded to tell county operations vehicle to cross runway xxl on runway yyl. There was no traffic on short final for runway xxl or any other traffic on that runway. Recommendation; I would make sure first and foremost that I hear and fully understand where the approval request was initiated before I speak to anyone about crossing a runway. Also it seems if a perimeter road was built around the airport; it would reduce the number of runway crossings necessary at the airport.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower developmental and Instructor described a confused runway crossing event involving two vehicles requesting clearance to cross runways; both reporters indicating daily multiple runway crossing by vehicles were a contributing factor.

Narrative: It occurred just after the position relief briefing and assuming control of the position. We were landing Runway XXL and departing Runway YYR in VFR conditions. I am in training on Ground Control and I had multiple vehicles to cross multiple active runways. County Operations vehicle was to cross Runway XXL on Runway YYL and a fire truck was to cross Runway YYR at Taxiway Sierra. Local Control initiated the crossing approval request for the fire truck with; 'Cross Runway YYR at Sierra.' I heard Local initiate the request and I then proceeded to tell County Operations vehicle to cross Runway XXL on Runway YYL. There was no traffic on short final for Runway XXL or any other traffic on that runway. Recommendation; I would make sure first and foremost that I hear and fully understand where the approval request was initiated before I speak to anyone about crossing a runway. Also it seems if a perimeter road was built around the airport; it would reduce the number of runway crossings necessary at the airport.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	934957
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	No Aircraft
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	Ground
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Developmental
Person 2
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Incursion Runway

Tower developmental and instructor described a confused runway crossing event involving two vehicles requesting clearance to cross runways; both reporters indicating daily multiple runway crossing by vehicles were a contributing factor.