Making up an incredibly important part of the emergency services, fire trucks perform an extremely vital function in maintaining public safety. They are instantly recognizable across the world, not only due to their loud sirens and flashing warning lights when attending an emergency, but also because of their distinctively garish red color.

But why are fire trucks red in the first place? Why are they not a bright orange, a yellow or even a blue color?

There are a few theories as to why they are decorated in this distinctive color.  

As always when tracing the origin and meaning of any word, phrase, tradition, or even a standard, there are several competing theories that offer an explanation as to why anything is named, or done in, the way that it is.

In this case, a few theories attempt to explain why fire trucks are almost always painted in a distinctively red color – although some are more believable than others.

Theory #1: Red & The cheapest color of paint

One theory is as follows: when the earliest fire departments were set up by unpaid volunteers, they had limited money to spend on equipment, including the paint of the fire engines. They found that red was the cheapest color to use, and so they chose that specific color to decorate its trucks.

However, this theory is unlikely true due to one reason – that red paint is often the most expensive color to produce, mainly due to the combination of pigments that are used. Therefore, other theories and ideas must be considered.

Theory #2: Red & The Most Expensive Color

Another theory therefore rests on red being the most expensive color. During the 19th Century, when fire departments and brigades were being devised across the United States, there was a huge amount of competition between neighboring towns and villages as to which fire department had the trucks that stood out the most. This included using the most expensive decoration, which involved utilizing a large amount of brass, and the most expensive paint color.

Therefore, decorating a fire truck in red paint would show the neighboring areas which town took the most pride in its fire department, and eventually, all fire departments used the same color.

Theory #3: Red Fire Trucks & Visibility

However, a third theory rests on one key component – visibility.

• Due to its rather garish and stark hue, the color red stands out amongst a sea of rather neutral colors.

Although the second theory may have some weight to it, the first known red-painted fire engine dates back to 1721, many years before fire departments were devised on a wide scale.

Developed by an English inventor named Richard Newsham, this was a horse-drawn engine that could spray 100 US gallons (380 L) of water a minute. It is unknown as to why Richard Newsham chose red as the color, but it was most likely due to the starkness of the color. Some may even argue that he connected the incredible heat and the color of the red-orange flames with the color red.

Beginning in the early 1900s, the color red became associated with danger and fire trucks. Cars were black, and fire trucks were not much bigger than other vehicles on the road, so the difference in color was extremely important. During this time, sirens were low-powered and had to be cranked by hand and emergency lights were incredibly dim. The color red was the only thing that could be done to differentiate fire trucks from cars.

Most Likely Theory??: Red = Visibility

Out of all of the three theories, the visibility idea appears to be the most likely. This is further supported by another factor – that when automobiles first rode the streets in the early 20th Century, the only color of car available at that time was a cheap black hue, in order to keep the prices of automobiles as low as possible.

A red fire truck would have stood out like a sore thumb against much of the rest of the traffic, ensuring that people would see a fast-moving fire engine coming from afar.

Modern Day Color of Fire Trucks

However, this does not answer why fire trucks are still painted red today. After all, the advent of warning systems such as bright, flashy and loud sirens mean that the color of the trucks is not as relevant today as it was many decades ago. Some studies have even suggested that using lime-yellow or white colors may, in fact, be safer in terms of reducing fire truck-related accidents.

A 2009 study by the United States Fire Administration (USFA) concluded that fluorescent colors, including yellow-green and orange, are easier to see in daylight than reddish hues.

As a result of such studies a handful of fire departments around the world have switched to other brighter colors, including the Canberra Fire Brigade in Australia, which today uses a fluorescent yellow-green color for its fleet.

Humans detect colors by using 3 types of photoreceptor cells in the retina, commonly known as cones. Color blindness results when one or more of these cones malfunctions.

• Red-green color blindness (protanopia) is the most common, whereby a person has a challenging time distinguishing between red and green tints of colors

• 1/12 men are on the color blindness spectrum

• 1/250 females also experience varying levels of color blindness

Colors Perceived & CVD

A recent 2018 study, researched colors of fire engines and the number of accidents by color of Fire Truck:

So, what were the results after 4 years and more than 2.6 million fire truck runs??

• Red fire trucks had nearly double the accident rate of the brighter lime/green, lime/yellow, and yellow fire engines.

The color red for fire trucks made sense when all the other cars on the street where black. However, today, their are much safer colors that can be used since red is one of the least visible colors, even before we get into the whole colorblindness issues.

However, the majority of fire departments have kept their red color, for the main reason that red is the traditional color that has become synonymous with fire trucks. While the aforementioned USFA study concluded that fluorescent yellow-green colors may increase vehicle visibility, the report also concluded that being able to recognize the vehicle instantly – which is based on the common knowledge that fire trucks are red – is also incredibly important with regards to safety.

Therefore, continuing to paint fire trucks in a red color may, after all, be the most sensible thing to do. 

Fire Trucks in Chile

In Chile, all 40,000+ firefighters (bomberos) are volunteers and actually pay monthly contributions for their service. Fire trucks come in many different colors in Chile, South America, with Fire Truck Red being the most common color.

Valentina is a guide for Pedal Chile and is our geology expert. Valentina has been in love with geology ever since she first saw Villarrica glowing in her native country of Chile. Valentina was born and raised in La Patagonia, which probably explains her affinity for adventuring. When Valentina isn’t crushing some poor dude’s soul, you can find her shredding down Rucapillán. Favorite season: Austral Summer

References and Sources for “Why Are Fire Trucks Red”

1. Badawy, Abdel-Rahman, et al. “Contact Lenses for Color Blindness.” Advanced Healthcare Materials, vol. 7, no. 12, 26 Apr. 2018, p. 1800152, 10.1002/adhm.201800152.

2. Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Multi-Volume Reference Work.” Wikisource.org, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 16 June 2008, en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography.

3. Hitch, Georgia. “Why Are Canberra’s Fire Engines Yellow instead of Red like Other States?” Www.abc.net.au, 4 Sept. 2016.

4. Kahl, J.T., Anderson, N.J., Casner, G. et al. Firefighter daytime visibility: trim properties and conspicuity. Fash Text 6, 18 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-019-0173-5

5. Nichols, Sam. “No Seriously, Why Are Fire Trucks Red?” Www.vice.com, 9 Jan. 2018, www.vice.com/en/article/ne44az/no-seriously-why-are-fire-trucks-red.

6. Solomon, Stephen S., and James G. King. “Fire Truck Visibility: Red May Not Be the Most Visible Color, Considering the Rate of Accident Involvement with Fire Trucks.” Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications, vol. 5, no. 2, Apr. 1997, pp. 4–10, 10.1177/106480469700500202.

7. “Why Are Fire Trucks Red?” Www.rocklandfirefighters.org, 19 Jan. 2007.

8. “Why Lime-Yellow Fire Trucks Are Safer than Red.” Https://Www.apa.org, 2014, www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/lime.