On our ambulances, our rescue equipment is: a crowbar. Some have a longer/larger tool, but that's pretty much it. We carry leather gloves, but only to change tires or put chains on. We don't have protective gear or helmets. We rely on the fire departments to do extrication. We rely on the SAR to go out into the woods to look for the lost.
Our policy is not to drive the ambulance off the road, either onto the beach, or off onto a deer trail or even a crappy logging road. We don't have 4 x 4 vehicles.
I've been a firefighter for longer than I've been an EMT, but all that learnin' has taught me when & where to use the info & techniques - and it ain't at work if I can't be protected.