Quick, dial 999...hang on... what's the number in France?

Saturday was probably the first time I have felt completely out of my depth since arriving in France and for one simple reason- it was the first time me and my friends had to deal with a medical emergency and had to ring for an ambulance. Simple as it may sound, it really wasn't! Out of around ten of us, none of us knew the actual French number to call an ambulance (or the fire brigade as it is here...which is a rather weird concept for me, that I will talk about in more detail after). I was so annoyed with myself as I walk past a poster with all the emergency numbers on at least three times a week at work and could I remember? No chance... Looking back I think I must have been nieve enough to think I'd never need to use them hence my lack of attention...first mistake! Luckily we knew the international emergency number, 112 (or should I say 2 of us did!) so we were able to get help although without that we would have been stuck! Fortunately it wasn't serious, but scary nonetheless! I really think I have learnt my lesson on that front and next time I will make sure I am well informed about things like that which are important! Needless to say, all the French emergency numbers are now well and truly stored in my mobile phone...and I doubt I was the only one to do it either!
I find it so strange though as I said before that you have to call the fire brigade to deal with a medical emergency in France, as in England the Fire, Ambulance and Police seem to have more designated roles (i.e. the Fire Brigade put fires out, cut roofs off cars after a road traffic accident etc, the ambulance/paramedics deal with medical emergencies and the Police deal with law-breakers and sudden deaths....in a nutshell anyway, I really don't mean to be demeaning to the emergency services who are all a credit to their profession and do incredible work!) On Saturday we had to think about who to call in that respect as our first thought, as at home, was to 'call an ambulance', which in England would be 999 then stating the service required (as at home there is only one emergency number, 999 which you ring regardless of whether you want police, fire or ambulance and then they direct you to whichever people you need to speak to). That said I don't remember ever having to dial 999 in England, may have had to at some point, I don't think I'd forget such an incident though having said that. Ah well, lesson learnt I think! I like my evenings to be eventful, but not like that!