Fire engine red is an informal name for an intense, bright
red commonly used on
emergency vehicle
An emergency vehicle is a vehicle used by emergency services. Emergency vehicles typically have specialized emergency lighting and vehicle equipment that allow emergency services to reach calls for service in a timely manner, transport equipment ...
s in many countries on
fire service vehicles. There is no unique shade, although different fire services may have a required specification.
[ The color has long been used, although not by all fire vehicles.
]
Background
Traditional fire departments in large U.S. central cities and major metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...
s use this color on fire engines, but many suburbs and smaller cities use the color lime or bright yellow for their fire engines because of its greater visibility at night. In the U.K. the fire service added the more visible Battenburg markings
Battenburg markings or Battenberg markings are a pattern of high-visibility markings developed in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and currently seen on many types of emergency service vehicles in the UK, Crown dependencies, British Overseas Ter ...
in fire-engine red and retro-reflective yellow, often on a predominantly red vehicle.
Initial research into fire appliance visibility was conducted by the Lanchester College of Technology and the Fire Brigade in Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, in the UK in c. 1965. It concluded that under the range of artificial street lighting in common use at the time, yellow better retained its conspicuity than red. Yellow was also more conspicuous in general road conditions in the daytime and during inclement weather. Research conducted by Stephen Solomon, a New York optometrist, promoted the use of "lime yellow" in the United States from the mid-1970s. Solomon conducted studies of the rate of vehicle accidents involving fire apparatus, concluding that the more conspicuously colored fire apparatus suffered a lower accident rate than the less conspicuous red used by the same fire department.
Further research supporting the use of yellow for all emergency vehicles was published in 1978 in Australia.[Green, David A. (1978). ''Emergency vehicle warning systems and identification''. NSW Public Works Department. 24pp. .]
Gallery
File:ButteCountyCASupport42.jpg, American fire truck in Butte County, California.
File:Manchester Airport Fire Engine.jpg, Red fire appliance with half- Battenburg side markings at Manchester Airport, England
File:Taipei Taiwan Firefighting-truck-02.jpg, Firefighting trucks of Taipei City Fire Department, Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
File:2june 2007 538.jpg, Italian fire trucks
File:Pozhmashina KamAZ fire engines 2019, 03.jpg, Ukrainian fire engines
File:IFA W50L Saracay PiƱas firetruck.jpg, Ecuadorean fire engine on parade
File:Gondar Airport 2018 (14).jpg, Ethiopian fire truck at Gondar Airport
File:ACTFB tankers.jpg, Australian ACT Fire and Rescue tankers in Chartreuse yellow
See also
* Green Goddess
* International orange
International orange is a color used in the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings, similar to safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish tone.
Variations of international orange
Aerospace
The Advanced Cr ...
* List of colors
* Safety orange
Safety orange (also known as blaze orange, vivid orange, OSHA orange, hunter orange, or Caltrans orange) is a hue. Safety orange is used to set objects apart from their surroundings, particularly in complementary contrast to the azure color ...
* School bus yellow
References
External links
*
Firefighting equipment
Shades of red
{{Colour-stub