That's why fire trucks are red
Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with security.
When you think of a fire truck, it is very unlikely that you can imagine a color but the red. Of course, there are exceptions in the United States and many other Western nations, where you will findWhite,yellow, and evenpink Fire Response Vehicles - But the Red has been the default color of fire trucks returning to the beginning of the organized fire departments. And if you have already wondered why fire trucks are red, the answer will surprise you.
Now, if your first hypothesis is that the fire brigades have chosen the striking color, difficult to miss, because it is more remarkable than others and helps to reduce in one way or another the frequency of accidents, you Would be confused. In fact, a1995 study on the role played by the color in the accidents of the fire, published inThe Journal of Safety Research, found that controlling other factors, red fire trucks are actuallyFollowing likely to be involved in accidents and are less visible than yellow or green trucks. (Bizarre, no?)
Color was probably adopted for less practical and more aesthetic reasons: competition between firefighting brigades.
The organized fire departments started in the early 1800s (although "organized" is a relative term) because groups of volunteers have emerged that rival gangs looked more closely than dedicated and highly qualified emergency responders. today.
"There were rivalries in cities like New York and Baltimore where firefighters were going there and opposed civilian disorders," Timothy Winkle, Vice President and Conservative of the House Division of the House and the Community at the National Museum of America from Smithsonian History,RecountSmithsonian.
These groups would compete with each other for those who could go to an emergency first and often fight on the stage of the right to get out of the outbreak. And one of the main sources of pride for these groups? Their fire pumps, decorated with the team's badges and the bright color of their truck.
"Every brigade wanted their platform stood out from being the cleanest, having the most brass milk, or to be a treat", as a writer of the city of Muskogee, okay,the dish. Whether it is because red was the most expensive color at the time or has just been considered the most enlightened and the strongest, it was soon adopted by many of these groups and that the practice was pursued as fire departments that have become more formalized throughout the country.
He talks about saying that some historians, however, disagree with this explanation. Gary Urbanowicz, Executive Director ofNew York Fire Museum, his doubts.
"There is really no documentation on this subject," he said, even though he agrees that the creation of a fire engine stands out was a major concern of the first fire fighting groups. .
Whatever the case, if you want to know why fire trucks are red - or why the fire trucks have remained red, just look at what the firefighters of Santa Monica, it had to say when, after 15 years Using Chartreuse's color response vehicles that says said were safer, the city has returned to classic red color.
"They are really proud to have again red," said Deputy Fire Chief of Santa Monica, told Ettore BerardinellLos Angeles Timesat the time. "Many people will laugh at that, but ... I do not do that."
Incidentally, if youAsk Siri This question, it will offer you this long explanation:
"Because they have eight wheels and four people on them, and four more eight are 12 years old and there are 12 inches on foot and a foot is a rule, and Queen Elizabeth was a rule and Queen Elizabeth was also a Ship, and the ship sailed the seas and the seas are fish and fish have fins, and the Finns fought the Russians and the Russians are red and the fire trucks are always "Russians". "
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