I prefer black over red, but then I'm a little biased. Mike I have to say I think your white apparatus with the blue stripe looks sharp. I just think it would become invisible during our Chicago area winters! Stay safe!
I've seen a variety of colors but red is still my favorite.
One thing I do not understand is why a department in an area where it snows would want white trucks. This is not in reference to any of the white trucks pictured here. I have been to a couple departments in Wisconsin that have white trucks. It just seems silly to me.
Personally, it doesn't matter what color the truck is, could be red, blue, lime green, or white, just as long as the rig does the job it's supposed to do, I could care less if the rig was flouresent pink (added only to prove my opinion).
Permalink Reply by Mitch on September 24, 2008 at 4:52pm
Honestly I don’t care what color the apparatus is. I prefer that the departments units match but that’s my opinion. As for safety, most drivers are to busy looking at or doing something else so no matter what color it is they won’t see it anyways, and those who do simply don’t care. Here in Iowa all of the counties sheriff’s departments have matching uniforms and vehicles (white with green and gold striping) with the exception of a few counties that add few colored cars with the same striping and lettering to their fleet. I like how all of the counties in the state are uniform but as far as one standardized color for apparatus or bunker gear I’m opposed to it as I like variety in my life. I feel that too much standardization is boring and this in turn would affect the mental health of many.
On a final note: We do have one older guy that feels if fire trucks aren’t red then they should be pink.
All of our big trucks engines, tenders, and such are red. Our rescue/EMS trucks and our command vehicles are white. This scientific study says this and this one says blahblahblah,yaddayaddayadda. It is tradition. The real question is why RED is the tradition? I know the answer do you? I'll send a POFD#3 fire shirt to the first person that leaves a comment on my page about the history of red for fire trucks.
ding ding ding ding! WE HAVE A WINNER! Good job Ed. That explains the tradition behind the color. They continued this until the 1960s because the most common color for a vehicle was black. Red made these trucks, which at the turn of the century were just that the size of a common 'today' pickup, stand out amongst the other "trucks". email me an address were I can send you your prize. alex@pofd3.org