Why are fire trucks red?

Have you ever wondered why fire trucks are always red?

According to Scienceabc, the red fire engines can be traced back to the 1900s , when most of the road-produced cars produced by Ford are all black. So red is a way for fire trucks to stand out on the streets . However, this is just one of the hypotheses to explain why fire trucks are red.

Although color is not an inherent, immutable problem, we often tend to associate colors with certain messages or ideas. For example, green often indicates "go" , white is called the color of peace and red in many situations with a warning meaning.

We tend to associate colors with certain messages or ideas.

Human-made color links are useful in many situations. The use of different colored lights in traffic signals is probably the most recognizable example of this phenomenon. Another example is the color of vehicles. For example: School buses in many countries are painted yellow (in Vietnam is blue) because it is the most easily observed color on the road. Therefore, people will drive more carefully when the arrival of the school shuttle bus and create high safety for students inside.

Similarly, you will see most fire engines on the road are red. What is the reason behind this? Why do fire departments around the world choose colors that represent this "dangerous" warning?

Red: color of fire truck

Fire trucks are vehicles designed, manufactured and specially equipped to meet fire, medical and dangerous emergencies.

Thanks to lights, special signs and red paint, fire trucks are easy to recognize on the road. One of the most notable characteristics of fire trucks is its bright red .

One of the most notable characteristics of fire trucks is its bright red.

Most traditional (former) fire agencies in the United States use this type of color to paint their fire engines. Of course, this is not a standard that fire agencies around the world must follow.

Why are fire trucks often painted in red?

No specific answer is widely accepted for this issue but there are a few hypotheses given.

Back in the 1900s, when Ford monopolized the production of cars, roads were filled with this type of vehicle and most of them were black (this is a fairly cheap and durable paint).

At that time, the red cars were very prominent on the road. Therefore, the driver will not have difficulty in determining what is a fire truck and give way to it.

Another theory is that fire fighting facilities at that time included volunteers and they worked unpaid. Therefore, they choose to paint red for fire trucks because they are the cheapest. Meanwhile, another hypothesis is that red is the most expensive paint color and people use it to paint fire trucks as a pride.

Useful properties of red fire engines

Red fire engines are significant because red has the longest wavelength of all common colors, meaning people can detect it remotely. That's why "stop" signs are often painted red.

Red has the longest wavelength of all popular colors, people can detect it remotely.

Moreover, the red symbolizes the danger in many cultures, highlighting the importance of red fire trucks as they are running along the street with flashing lights and sirens. In addition, people have become accustomed to seeing red fire engines and fire agencies have no reason to change this.

However, recent studies have confirmed that the human visual system is most sensitive to the wavelength from 510nm to 570nm (greenish green). That is one of the main reasons why school buses in the United States are painted yellow. Moreover, research has shown that people have trouble seeing red in low light conditions. As a result, if it is night or too foggy, you can easily ignore a red fire truck rather than green yellow.

There have been many fire fighting facilities have turned to yellow fire engines.

The statistics show that accident-related red fire engines are 3 times higher than lemon yellow cars. A vision specialist in New York named Stephen Solomon conducted a road accident investigation of a fire truck and then recommended using lemon yellow for this car in the US, starting Since the 1970s. Another study recommended the use of yellow emergency vehicles that were published in 1978 in Australia.

It is true that yellow yellow emergency vehicles are easily detected (regardless of ambient light conditions). That's why many fire fighting facilities have turned to yellow fire engines. Even so, red fire engines still dominate, at least in the near future.