The Nation: Fire-Engine Yellow

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It may well be difficult to picture a black and white Dalmatian perched atop a screaming fire engine of bright lime yellow, but that peculiar color combination is beginning to appear in fire departments round the nation. Thanks to extensive research by such men as Dr. Stephen Solomon, an optometrist and a member of the Port Jervis, N.Y., volunteer fire department, more and more fire chiefs have been made aware of a stark physiological fact: people are red-blind at night. Says Dr. Solomon, who has published a number of articles on color research: "The color red is one of the least visible colors and rates next to black for getting attention."

Fire chiefs have seen the consequences of this principle. Chief Bernie Koeppen of Wheeling, Ill., has changed to lime yellow, even for the department's ambulance. "In accident after accident involving red wagons," he notes, "all you hear is, 'I didn't see it. I didn't see it.' " Adds Chief Ed Underwood of St. Charles, Mo.: "The majority of fire fighters killed or wounded catch it on their way to fires. Red is dead. Lime yellow is the coming color."

Fire engines have been red for so long (for no visible reason) that the switchover may create problems. Ted Haberman, manager of Pueblo West, Colo., points out that automobile drivers are accustomed to red as the danger color, and that since many Americans ride in air-conditioned cars with the windows rolled up, they may not hear the siren from approaching, unfamiliar lime yellow wagons. Simple tradition may also militate against a wholesale switch from red. But as Dr. Solomon accurately observes: "Firemen have one tradition that is stronger, and that is to stay alive."