Fire engines that aren't red
Discussion
Fire engines are, of course, red. Here in California, I've never seen one being used that wasn't. It was the same when I lived in Colorado and Montana. That said, we do have jurisdictions that use engines that aren't red. The classic, at least to a yank like me, would be the lime greens that started being used in the 70s. The idea was that the colour is more visible in traffic than red is, but as it turned out red is such a natural association with fire vehicles that the lime greens aren't in widespread use. We have some in the States, like this Miami Dade vehicle:
But they aren't common. They are, however, not the only non-red fire engines in America. In Virginia, darker green trucks are used in some jurisdictions. Here is one:
Here is a yellow truck:
White:
Orange:
Pink: (This was done for cancer awareness, and the truck is in regular service and responding to calls. It is just one truck, not the whole department. There are a few other jurisdictions that have done this to a truck, but I know of none that have done it fleet wide.)
Blue:
Black:
Purple:
So, while red is certainly the default colour, we yanks have a few of everything on the rainbow. That's just us, though. I'm sure the UK and other nations have some jurisdictions with unusual paint schemes, but I'm mostly familiar with the US.
But they aren't common. They are, however, not the only non-red fire engines in America. In Virginia, darker green trucks are used in some jurisdictions. Here is one:
Here is a yellow truck:
White:
Orange:
Pink: (This was done for cancer awareness, and the truck is in regular service and responding to calls. It is just one truck, not the whole department. There are a few other jurisdictions that have done this to a truck, but I know of none that have done it fleet wide.)
Blue:
Black:
Purple:
So, while red is certainly the default colour, we yanks have a few of everything on the rainbow. That's just us, though. I'm sure the UK and other nations have some jurisdictions with unusual paint schemes, but I'm mostly familiar with the US.
Edited by Yankface on Sunday 12th January 05:41
Craigyp79 said:
The Yanks have so much better looking fire trucks, they shout "Get the f
k out of the way, I'm on my way to a fking fire"!
They do have some awesome ones! I saw one of the massive ones that is like an articulated lorry in Los Angeles, the thing was huge.k out of the way, I'm on my way to a fking fire"! If I can find the pic I'll post it up.
Edited by Z06George on Sunday 12th January 12:51
Chuck328 said:
Nope.
Grampian have been white for years now.
Because it was cheaper to paint them white apparently - the fluoro red they used to be painted cost almost twice as much per engine to paint... I believe that the restructuring of the Fire Service in Scotland means a re-standardisation of vehicles though, so we may well see red engines back in Aberdeen in the near future!Grampian have been white for years now.
Like you say people associate red with fire engines so they'd probably all be red, but somewhere there are civil servants who need to justify their existence by altering things that would be fine left as they are. See "why government projects cost 4x as much as they should and don't work."
[quote=etchacan]
Because it was cheaper to paint them white apparently - the fluoro red they used to be painted cost almost twice as much per engine to paint... /quote]
My dad was a firefighter in Aberdeen and then Peterhead, thus I'm very fond of the white engines (which I used to get to play about with when visiting Dad's work). I seem to remember my dad saying the saving was somewhere in the region of £90,000 but don't know if that was per annum or what.
Because it was cheaper to paint them white apparently - the fluoro red they used to be painted cost almost twice as much per engine to paint... /quote]
My dad was a firefighter in Aberdeen and then Peterhead, thus I'm very fond of the white engines (which I used to get to play about with when visiting Dad's work). I seem to remember my dad saying the saving was somewhere in the region of £90,000 but don't know if that was per annum or what.
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