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Permalink Reply by DUST on April 20, 2009 at 1:50am

or you keep going to the probie for orders on the fire scene cause his helmet looks white to you...ha,ha!

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Permalink Reply by Moose on April 20, 2009 at 8:51am

I am color blind and have been an interior firefighter for 16 of the 20 years in the fire service with no problems. The ability to read the color of the smoke and flames can be trouble, but there are other ways to read these patterns. The color of the Hazardous plaques are a simple problem to overide...there are only a few colors and they have designated positions on the haz-mat placard system; Blue, Red, and yellow. I can tell the difference between these colors and have had no problem with haz-mat as I am now a Technician level responder. You always enter the IDLH atmosphere with a partner so they can look at the color of the chemicals and the litmus paper tests you perform in haz-mat situations, and in interior firefighting its the same thing, you always enter with a buddy who can read colors. Just make sure your partner likes you and will actually tell you there is danger!!! LOL
Good luck to you brother.

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Permalink Reply by matt on April 20, 2009 at 9:50am

Another thing about the HAZMAT plaques: That is why they also have numbers on them so they can be universally read. Being color blind wouldn't be an issue unless you come up on a truck or a tank without a plaque, however that is why there are multiple firefighters, and companies on a scene. Also for the smoke patterns, you never go inside alone. But on the other hand thats an added burden on the company you are on along with the firefighter you can go with. It really can go either way but honestly if you have had alot of experience like you said you have been a chief and you are currently employed as a FF in a private company, I dont see how you could be rejected only because you are color blind...

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Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on April 20, 2009 at 11:32am

Color blindness is a big no-no in the LA County area fire departments and I don't know why. That is why I dont work for LA City Fire Department. Years ago they told me i was color blind. In fact I could not pick out all the little color dots against the other color dots. So they sat me in a room with a bunch of little jars that looked like model paint jars. I had to arrange them from darkest to lightest. The proctor left the room and when she came back I had finished. She told me I could not have finished that fast because I AM COLOR BLIND. So she mixed them all up and sat there in front of me and told me to do it again (I don't like being called a cheater). So I did. She was amazed. She told the Doctor. He sat me down and had me do it again. AMAZED!

Then they gave me a color chart, like the color charts you see at a paint store. I was told to identify all the colors. I did so...AMAZED!

Then the doctor told me i was colorblind again. I asked if I had done the series of events correctly. He said YES, but you are still colorblind, you can not distinguish red from green. I told him i could tell the difference on traffic lights. "No you can't he said". Sure i can, lets go outside and look. "No, everybody knows the positions of the lights" he said.

I proved to them over and over that although I may be "color blind" in some sense or criteria, that I can still see colors.

It finally came down to a fire captain had done a study that showed how dangerous it was to have color blind people working in the fire department. That they may not be able to pick out "mixed" chemicals in a big 40 gallon cantainer in a Haz Mat event if needed (?????) I know that that occurs on a daily basis in the fire department (NOT!)

I wonder if I can sue? Afterall it is a gender based rule. Everyone knows that there are more color blind males the females! lol lol lol

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Permalink Reply by Joe Smith on April 24, 2009 at 11:49am

Thank you everyone for the great input. I have done a lot of thinking and I am going to fight this! I have done more research and I think that this is a more common problem than I realized with 1 out of 12 men statistically being colorblind, this kind of discrimination is bound to keep surfacing. The more stories that I hear, the more I see that there are thousands of "colorblind" firefighters who have had to cheat their way into the fire service just to accomplish their dreams and that is not right. That is not what we as firefighters are all about! I completely understand if you don't want to share your story for all to read, but if you want to contact me on my email, especially if you are in California and share your story, that would be great. My email address is joesmithfd@hotmail.com. I am trying to compile information on as many serving firefighters that have this condition that I can. If you aren't in California and would still like to share your story, I would love to hear it! Once again thank you all and hopefully we can change the way things like this are done.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Des Forges on February 17, 2013 at 10:38pm

What ever became of your fight? I might be in the same boat here...

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Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on February 18, 2013 at 10:27am

I know of at least 1 person on the Indianapolis fire dept who is color blind. He is a paramedic & a Hazmat tech too.
Sounds to me like your being denied for a bs reason. Keep fighting it, get a lawyer & look at the civil disabilaties ac. Also contact other paid depts. across the nation who hire color blind firefighters.
What dept. are you trying to get hired on to?

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