Fire trucks are red because they've always been red, right? Actually, the color was chosen in the 1800s for reasons that no longer make sense—and studies have proven there's a much safer option that most fire departments refuse to use.
The origins of red fire trucks are murky, but the most popular theory is economic. In the early 1900s, when Henry Ford's Model T dominated the roads, nearly every car was black because black paint was cheapest. Fire departments wanted their vehicles to stand out, so they chose red—supposedly the most expensive paint color at the time, making it a status symbol.
Another theory suggests that red was simply the color firefighters' uniforms had always been, so the trucks matched. Whatever the reason, red became so deeply associated with fire trucks that by the mid-20th century, it was essentially the only color anyone considered.
Then in the 1970s, researchers started asking an important question: Is red actually the most visible color for emergency vehicles? The answer, according to science, was a definitive no.
Dr. Stephen Solomon, a New York optometrist, conducted a four-year study analyzing accident data from the Dallas Fire Department. His findings were startling: red fire trucks were involved in accidents at rates up to three times higher than lime-yellow fire trucks. The human eye simply doesn't detect red as well in low-light conditions—exactly when fire trucks are most likely to be racing through traffic.
Lime-yellow (a greenish-yellow color) is the most visible color to the human eye in both daylight and darkness. This isn't opinion—it's biology. The color-detecting cones in our eyes are most sensitive to greenish-yellow wavelengths, especially when lighting is poor. Red, by contrast, is one of the hardest colors to see at night.
The evidence was so compelling that in the 1970s and 1980s, fire departments across the United States began repainting their fleets lime-yellow. The National Fire Protection Association even issued recommendations suggesting departments adopt greenish-yellow colors for safety. Dallas, Miami, and dozens of other cities made the switch.
But here's where it gets frustrating: many departments that switched to lime-yellow eventually switched back to red. Not because the science was wrong—the visibility data held up. The problem was recognition. People had been conditioned for so long to associate red with fire trucks that when they saw a lime-yellow emergency vehicle, they didn't immediately recognize it as a fire truck.
A 2009 U.S. Fire Administration study confirmed the dilemma. While lime-yellow was more visible, red was more recognizable—and recognition matters when you need drivers to immediately understand they should pull over. If people in a community don't associate yellow with emergency vehicles, they might not react with the same urgency.
So fire departments faced a choice: use the scientifically superior color that reduces accidents, or stick with tradition because that's what people expect. Most chose tradition. Today, the vast majority of fire trucks are still red, even though we know lime-yellow would save lives.
Some departments have tried to split the difference—red trucks with white or reflective yellow striping, or red bodies with white roofs. Modern fire trucks also have sirens, flashing lights, and retroreflective tape to improve visibility regardless of paint color.
But the fundamental problem remains: fire trucks are red because of outdated reasons from over a century ago, and we've collectively decided that tradition is more important than the proven safety benefits of a different color. The firefighters racing to save lives are doing it in vehicles painted the wrong color—because that's what we expect to see.