Fire Trucks

[Disgusted-Daily]

How come we grew up with red Fire Trucks and Hydrants and if you asked a child today what color or to color a Fire Truck and Hydrant it would be red?

But yet they are not all red. Why? Is there a reason for this or why there are so many different colors. I think all Fire Trucks and Fire hydrants should be mandated to be red.

If you disagree please state why!

[bobbbiez]

Todd, I think they're different colors so we can distinguish the different departments when they're in parades. JUST KIDDING!!!!!!! ;D Really don't know why they are different colors. I do believe they should be all red. After all, we were all brought up to believe red is the official color of a fire department. Why it had to be changed is beyond me and yes it is very confusing for the little ones.

[countrygal]

Fire hydrants....yes. Fire trucks.....no. Whitesboro and Floyd aren't red and I'll admit it took a bit of getting used to. My boys don't think anything of it. It's a truck, they don't care what color it is, they're into it. I think they look sharper in a parade when they're red. I used to think all police cars should be black and white and look at the color combinations out there!

[dgriffin]

Big arguments over color, I remember from my firehouse days twenty years ago. If you put a chip chart of all colors on a black and white copier, red often comes out as black as black. It is a very dark color. Some say it is not really as visible as other colors, such as the puke yellow-green often seen on modern fire trucks. Discussion on the choice of fire truck color has been known to send volunteer fire department meetings into chaos and the fireman back to the tap for more "enlightment juice." Science versus tradition.
See:
www.scienceblog.com/community/older/1997/A/199700494.html

Of course, some will argue that the color of the fire truck doesn't matter when it's carrying a dozen brightly flashing lights and honking a 125 decibel siren.

[kim]

I think the yellow ones are easier to see. However, like Dave said, it's hard to miss those flashing lights, no matter what the color!

[frankcor]

They should be yellow for the same reason school buses are yellow. Yellow is more visible. I like the fire hydrants in Floyd that are painted like little men.

[rrogers40]

Around here just as long as they have atleast 4 wheels, and can go down the road, there fine.

[concerned]

I wonder how a blind person from birth would respond to that question.

[bobbbiez]

Hey Frank, are those little men on your fire hydrants complying with that new Italian law? ;D

[Clipper]

The blind person would probably be as unconcerned about the color of the truck as most people would be, as long as it got there before the flames broke through the roof.

Gee, Concerned, the moderation on the OD forum is right up to their usual vigilant and high standard this morning. I see your post "read lines 1,3.and 5 only, is still up and running over there. ;D

Congratulations and cudos for posting it. I love it, haha.

[concerned]

I just had to post it, lol I am surprised it is still there.

[dgriffin]

frankcor said:

They should be yellow for the same reason school buses are yellow. Yellow is more visible. I like the fire hydrants in Floyd that are painted like little men.

From Wikipedia:
“School bus yellow is a color which was especially formulated for use on United States school buses in 1939 during a conference organized by Dr. Frank W. Cyr, who became well-known as the "Father of the Yellow School Bus. The color was selected because black lettering on that hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning." (And as a kid you were pretty tired, after milking 40 cows, as you stood out on the frozen wastes of North Dakota waiting for a bus you fervently wished would not be red.)
Fascinating article at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_bus_yellow
with a number of facts, the most interesting of which is that, for computer graphic artists, the approximate color of National School Bus Yellow in hex code is #FFD800, an easy number to remember.

[Swimmy]

And the moderator was browsing the forums this morning...

[tommi250]

Some things should just stay the same. Think of it this way. Why change the color of your Fire equipment? To spend money. People love to spend money and Fire departments are some of the worst offenders. They want bigger and bigger machines. Now in regards to color. "Hey, lets change the color of our trucks so our trucks won't be like the other ones. We're Whitesboro and we should be different.' It almost seems like an egotistical endeavor. Some things should just be the way they are. FIRE ENGINE RED! It's a symbol and symbols shouldn't change.

[bobbbiez]

Here, here, I agree. God, I just hate doing that.