Chip Martin | the London Free Press
Chances are there will soon be no more mistaking fire trucks for garbage trucks in London.
If it’s red and speeding, it’s a fire truck; If it’s yellow and smelling it’s a garbage truck.
The city’s community and Protective Services committee opted Monday to convert fire vehicles from yellow back to traditional red. The decision goes to council for approval.
The committee was told red is more identifiable, is the colour nearly all fire departments have adopted and adds to vehicles resale value.
Deputy Fire Chief Jim Fitzgerald said he expects it will take three years to gradually convert all fire trucks back to red, a colour abandoned for yellow in the early 1970s.
Fitzgerald said only about 15% of all fire department’s opted for yellow, a colour that is quote washed out quote under certain streetlights and which has led to more accidents, according to American studies.
He said most major Canadian fire departments are returning to read if they hadn’t abandoned it in the first place. 20 of 21 fire department in Middlesex County use red he said.
Fitzgerald said that while red paint costs more than yellow paint, it lasts longer and is easier to apply so the overall cost is about the same.
Counselor Bernie McDonald, who opposed the colour change, said red is the best colour because it it is traditionally associated with fire vehicles and children’s books use that colour.
Source: The London Free Press
