We have different colors in my station Our ladder is red with white top and white stripe, our pumper is yellow and too old to have any stripes, our tanker is yellow with a white stripe, our command cars are white, our utility is white with an orange stripe, our main ambulance is white with maroon, silver, and black striping, and our back up ambulance is white with an orange and blue stripe. We also have a dive rescue boat that is yellow.
I work in Woodbury Minnesota, we have both. It really does not matter the color of the truck. If you can't see a 50,000lb red truck, your not going to see a lime one
Permalink Reply by Hugh on September 28, 2008 at 12:49am
Hi Brothers&Sisters, I truly feel the the apparatus should be red but ours has been navy blue gold and white after the school district colors I believe.Several years ago I was reading that lime green was gonna be the new color but it never panned out mainly because it was a question on who was gonna pay for all the trucks to be repainted. Hope everyone is doing great.Be safe and becarefull at the next worker Brothers. Hughie House 57 PA
There have been several studies done on the color of emergency vehicles. The answer is or @ least according to NFPA is that COLOR doesn't matter as much as the lights & markers. That is why they came up with that NFPA package and although I am wracking my brain right now I can't come up with the number (19??) BUT literally ALL the manufacturers know that we have to meet that standard & build, stripe & paint trucks to that specification.
In our station the trucks are RED. The company down the road paints theirs Lime (slime) Green, there are white ones trimmed in red & in blue & even purple. Our new truck is actually red & black instead of the red & white we have gone with in the past. EVEN the reflective stripe is BLACK. What you see is just an 8" refletion of light around the truck.
Aren't LED lights just the greatest thing? Law enforcement likes blue lights (hehehe like K-mart) but the other day I saw a highway patrole car that had PINK lights. Ok, so maybe they were supposed to be red but I saw them from half a mile away during the day and knew slow down & get over into the other lane in plenty of time. THAT is the point, not what color the lights are or the vehicle. In law enforcement runs anything from white to black with a multitude of different paint schemes. In my area ambulances are WHITE with orange or red or blue contrasting reflective trim but the other day I saw a red one. @ first glance I did think it was a fire truck until I saw the box on the back instead of a tank. BUT - I could see lights & hear a siren (i think it was a federalQ) coming toward me even with the windows up & the stereo on. As a motorist, it doesn't matter what type of emergency vehicle is on its way toward me or particularly coming up behind me, ALL I need to know is to get out of the way.
I don't know about Wisconsin and Chicago but, if you've been around here in the winter you'd know that with all the crap they treat the roads with...NOTHING stays white too long!!! Especially our apparatus!