What color is your helmet?

A lot of times, the role of a firefighter is determined by the color of his helmet, but accross the board there is no uniformity in establishing just who is who. For instance in one County, a Red helmet is a new firefighter, but in an adjoining county, a red helmet could be that of an officer. In a critical situation where mutual aid is needed, it could be critical to properly identify who is who without actually going up and asking the person their names and titles. Would you think that perhaps it should be necessary to establish a common system used by everyone to avoid fire scene confusion? Just wanted to see what folks think?

I'm a Red helmet. In my County it means I am the new firefighter. What do the different colors mean where you are? Do you even classify people by the color of their helmet?

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on October 13, 2011 at 10:31pm

I was being sarcastic.

Being serious here and giving some benefit of doubt, when coming into any new social type of site, like this, firehouse, fireengineering, or any other type of site with an active forum, it helps to do a search of the forums to see if the topic has been discussed before.

Problem is, such a topic has been discussed ad nauseum and is old and outdated. The other problem is it is such discussions that start to crop up and thus drive those who actually give a crap about contributing away. There are many things to learn and discussions like size up, tactics, etc that get buried beneath discussions like this....of which have absolutely NO bearing whatsoever about trying to actually "learn" about the job.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 13, 2011 at 11:16pm

So, I forget. What color is your helmet and what does it mean?

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on October 13, 2011 at 11:24pm

My helmet is a yellow, chartruse, off-kilter green, with blue highlights and it means I am a sarcastic, smart-ass, SOB, PAFF.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Moyer on October 14, 2011 at 2:15pm

In my dept

White- Chief or Deputy Chief

Red- Capt

Blue Traditional-EMS Capt.

Yellow- Lt. (cant remember how to spell lieutenant)

Black- Firefighter (me and never going to change the color)

Blue Modern- EMS ONLY

Black with Orange shield- Probie

Black with Green Shield -Junior FF

I think thats all

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Permalink Reply by Mark McShane Jr on October 14, 2011 at 6:27pm

I wear Black

Black- Firefighter

Red- LT's and Capt.

White- Chief and Asst. Chief

Safety Officer - Orange

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Permalink Reply by Russ Marks on October 14, 2011 at 9:17pm

most of Calif is universal,

White-Chief Officer

Red-Capt (some Lt. however not many Lt. in Calif)

Black - Engineer

Yellow- FF

Yellow with Balck Stripes-Prob FF

Blue-EMS

Green-Support

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Permalink Reply by William McCarron on October 15, 2011 at 6:12pm

In our township we have the following;

Probie: Black helmet with orange shield

Firefighter: Black helmet standard shield

Lieutenants: Red helmet

Captains: Yellow helmet

Chiefs: White helmets

Safety Officers: Orange helmets

Cadets/Junior FF Blue helmets

Uniformity is deffinitely a good idea. The neighboring town has all firefighters in yellow helmets and probies in orange! Thus the confusion starts if you are not on your game.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Igneczi on October 15, 2011 at 7:56pm

As with everything that has developed in the fire service since the standarization brought on by NIMS, standard colors for helmets based on rank is definitely needed. In our Department, Chief Officers are white, Company Officers are red, Firefighters are black, probationary or rookie Firefighters are yellow.

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Elliott on October 15, 2011 at 8:30pm

Southern Ohio Volunteer Department:

White-Chief, Asst. Chief

Red-Captain

Yellow-Lieutenant

Black-Certified Firefighter

Orange-Safety Officer

Green-Probie

Hard Hat style helmets-Jr. Firefighters

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Permalink Reply by Dave Igneczi on October 15, 2011 at 8:44pm

As far as identifying key positions within the ICS, the officers are identified by identifiable vest with the names of the positions clearly marked on them.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on October 18, 2011 at 10:56am

Probie: Orange

Fireman: Yellow

Capt or Lt: Red

Any level Chief (Battalion, District, Division): White

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Permalink Reply by Joey H on October 19, 2011 at 5:54pm

Black - firefighter and engineer, yellow - officers, white - chief, red - hazmat team (there are two hazmat stations. One with a hazmat, engine, tower ladder, and rescue. The other has a hazmat, engine, and rescue. Everyone at the station is issued red, not just those assigned to the hazmat truck)

What color is your helmet?

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