Why Are Fire Trucks Painted Red? The Answer May Surprise You. The iconic fire truck – a symbol of bravery, urgency, and rescue – is instantly recognizable by its bold, fire-engine red color. But have you ever stopped to think about why fire trucks are red in the first place? It’s a question that has sparked curiosity in many of us, and the answer might just surprise you. From practicality to tradition, the reasons behind the distinctive red hue of fire trucks are fascinating and rooted in history, making this everyday sight a more interesting story than you might have ever imagined.
Red, a History
In the early 1900s, when Henry Ford launched the Model T automobile, he famously quoted:
“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” This set the trend for roads to have mostly black cars on them.
To be distinguishable from the average road user, firehouses across the Country painted their apparatuses red to maximize visibility.
In this way, the color red ensured the safety and conspicuity of firefighters and the fire trucks they were responding in.
Today, however, cars come in all colors, and fire trucks are additionally equipped with sirens, lights, and retroreflective markings to signal road users that they are responding to or returning from an emergency. So why is it that more than a hundred years later, we still predominantly associate red with fire trucks?
While the color red is undoubtedly eye-catching, most people associate fire trucks with sirens and flashing lights.
According to automotive experts and historians, there are many theories. One such theory is that fire trucks were first painted red because of early cars. During the 1900s, Henry Ford suggested the color black for his Model T Ford. The reason was due to the cheap cost and durability of the paint. Since cars were gaining popularity, and the numbers steadily increasing, it is said that fire brigades wanted the rigs to stand out. There’s also another theory that fire trucks are red because the earliest fire departments were made up of unpaid volunteers.
According to this other history, however, volunteer firefighters from neighboring towns competed against one another. Since red was the most expensive color during that period, volunteers used red to make their fire trucks stand out as a source of pride.
Before the invention of automobiles, horse-drawn wagons or carriages were utilized to transport firefighting equipment
Before fire trucks became a thing, repurposed from farms were used to transport equipment. One theory is that the color red was painted on their undercarriage because it often hid dirt and debris from the unpaved roads. As time went by, firehouses started upgrading their equipment from wagons to trucks, and they adopted their paint scheme, too.
Standing out
On a science note. For the light spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, the first color that becomes difficult for the human eye to discern in low light is red. So, maybe the folks with the dark blue trucks are on to something.
Retired Master Fire Mechanic Anthony Bulygo of the Santa Clara County (California) Fire Department, said their apparatus is all white with gold reflective stripes. But it wasn’t always that way.
The change from “slime green” and red color schemes was done back in the 1970s, he said. The tongue-in-cheek reason given for the change surrounded the issue of mutual-aid fires where all rigs were red. Bulygo said the fire chief at the time said, “We are the best and we need to be seen as the best and stand out.”
The Maple Grove (Minnesota) Fire Department uses a white-over-red paint scheme. Maple Grove is a relatively young, second-ring suburb of Minneapolis and its fire department came into being in the mid-1970s. Maple Grove hired Roger Kochera as the first full-time fire chief to organize and manage the newly created fire department.
“Chief Kochera had come to Maple Grove from Farmington, Minnesota, where the fire trucks were painted white,” said Maple Grove Deputy Chief Tim Bush. “Maple Grove incorporated white over red to acknowledge the background of Chief Kochera. We continue that tradition to this day.”
Post a question about what color a fire truck should be painted on a social media site or online forum and it won’t take long to get comments from all directions. The most prominent are those who categorically state, “Real fire trucks are red,” or something to that effect.
Colors like yellow are more noticeable than red so why aren’t emergency vehicles associated with such colors?
When it comes to emergency vehicles, it must stand out from the crowd. By doing so, vehicles on the road can easily spot it and make way. But is red the best color to stand out, especially at night? Experts would disagree and according to some studies, yellow or lime green is most easily seen after dark.
Today, red remains by far the most popular color for fire trucks and a variety of other emergency vehicles. At the same time, it’s not uncommon to see fire trucks that are white, yellow, blue, orange, green, and even black. In 2009, a U.S. Fire Administration study concluded that the paint color was not important, rather it was more important that drivers recognize what the vehicle is for.
