Color of helmets

There is a big controversy brewing in my department. As it is right now I company officer position titles are Sergeant and Captain. Every station has a station Captain on one shift, the two other shifts are run by a Sergeant. Captians have white helmets and Sergeants have red helmets. The department is getting ready to change this and put Captains in red helmets as they should be, and put Sergeants back in black helmets with a red leather front to distinguish them from firefighters. I am a Sergeant and I personally do not care what color my helmet is as long as the department pays for this one since they want to change it but some of our Sergeants are infuraited and I believe it is going to be a big issue and a sore subject for awhile? What do you all think about it? What color scheme does your department use? Do you think the issue is as small as I do? There are many department out there that operate the same way, if you work in a department where everyone's helmet is virtually the same color does that cause you a problem?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Justin Waltman on April 1, 2009 at 10:55pm

the department that i run with our helmets are, chief's are white, captains and lieutenants are red, ff's are black, probies are yellow, jr's are orange.

Permalink Reply by Cowboy on April 13, 2009 at 11:42pm

In my department it is:

Chief: White
Deputy Chief: White
Asst. Chief: White
Captain: Red
Lieutenant: Black ( W/ L-1,L-2,L-3,etc..)
Firefighters: Black
Juniors: Black W/Junior Shield
Probies: Black W/Probantionary Shield

Permalink Reply by Co. 10 Bad-Andy on April 19, 2009 at 10:56am

In my dept. we use the following colors.

Chief/Deputy Chief - White
Captain - Red
Lieutenants - Red
Firefighters - Black with a black font shield.
Jr. Firefighters - Black with an orange front shield.

Permalink Reply by John Schander on May 3, 2009 at 10:33pm

The only ones who wear different color helmets are the Chief and Asst. Chief, they both wear white helmets.All other officers wear the same black helmets as the other members of the dept. Our I.D. numbers on the sides of ourhelmets denote officers.

Permalink Reply by Tim Wood on May 5, 2009 at 6:36pm

White= Chief and Asst
Red= Cpt and Lt
Yellow= FF
Green=Jr/Probie

Permalink Reply by Firechief2411 on May 6, 2009 at 9:07pm

In my vol depatment the Chief, Deputy Chief, and Asst Chief get White, Ex-CHief wear black with white leather, Capt and LT wear black with Red Shields, Qualified Firefighter wear black, and probies were yellow. In paid Chief, Deputy, Battallion wear white, Black with white shields for Capt and LT, and all else black. Chief, Deputy, and battalion were white coats, tan for everyone elese.

Permalink Reply by Paul Everson on May 11, 2009 at 10:03pm

This is the layout of our department

Chiefs- White
Captains- Red
Firefighters- Yellow
Probationary- Black

Permalink Reply by Bill Brown on May 13, 2009 at 3:26pm

The layout we use is

Chiefs-White
Captain-Red
Lieutenants-Yellow
Firefighters-Black
Probationary-Black with Green front shields

Permalink Reply by FitzLT23 on June 7, 2009 at 2:50pm

in my vollie company the chief and deputy cheif wear white helmets and the safety officer is orange all others are yellow except for a few ems personnel who have blue helmets. Our company issues the cairns 660 style helmets with reflective rockers for rank identification but allows members to use their own helmets if they so choose provided it is nfpa compliant, if an officer uses their own traditional style helmet they may use a white leather front in stead of black to signifie rank. for members under the age of 18 we place a green stripe on their helmet, this seems to be somewhat normal in my county but is not a required standard practice. in my company we mark probies and exterior ffs with an orange stripe.

Permalink Reply by Capt./Chaplain Mike Petrosky on July 15, 2009 at 3:45pm

It doesn't matter the color of the helmet-what matters is that you have well trained, qualified leaders to lead your department through the ups and downs that you will face. This, in my opinion, is a very minor detail. Our colors are as follows:

Chiefs = White
Captains = Red
Lieutenants = Yellow
Sergeants = Black
Firefighters = Black
Cadets = Blue

Permalink Reply by Daniel T. on July 20, 2009 at 5:34am

Chief officers - white
Station Captain - red with a white leather shield
Captain/ Lt´s. - red with black leather shield (the rank is on it)
Fire Fighter - black

Permalink Reply by Ben "Batman" Barry on July 26, 2009 at 9:44pm