Southern California Small cities

[MFD76]

[quote name='code20photog' post='238958' date='Aug 16 2008, 15:16 ']Yes. Chief Sewell decreed that the department was going back to red right after he was appointed chief. He was an outsider brought in for the position. When they ordered the 10 1996 KMEs, and the single KME quint, they were ordered to be red. There really wasn't much reason given, basically the schpeal given was with the advancements of warning equipment, there was no longer a need for yellow, red is tradional, blah blah blah. But what he didn't take into account was the pride the FFs took in thier yellow engines. When VCFD went out on strike teams, you KNEW where VCFD was because of the bright yellow paint and the guys were really proud of that. When Sewell took the Chief's position in Seattle, Bob Roper was appointed chief. Chief Roper worked his way up from CADET to chief, holding every firefighting position along the way. He understood that it wasn't just a color, it was a thing of pride, so when they ordered the two 1999 ALF TDAs, they were indeed spec'd to be yellow. Every piece of equipment ordered since has been yellow, although most admin vehicles are white for cost purposes. (Chief Sewell had a red crown victoria, Roper's is blue. Yellow would have been too expensive simply for a staff car.) As a matter of fact, in one of his recent "From the Chief" articles in the departmet newsletter, Chief Roper alluded to the fact that when VCFD goes out on strike teams, the big line of yellow apparatus garners a lot of attention when they roll through. The tagline at the bottom of my posts comes from a propsed t-shirt the union was going to print in protest of the red engines when they first arrived.



The remaining red apparatus will remain red unless the entire vehicle needs to be repainted. Currently besides the KMEs, WT27 is painted red. All other red apparatus has been removed from service.



The orginal yellow was "Canary" yellow. It has since changed to "Chrome" yellow.[/quote]



OK I really can't believe I am saying this but if it is pride and ownership then yellow it is. Most departments I have been in contact with as a firefighter have hated their yellow rigs and most switched back to some tradtional verison of red or white. But I completely agree with you if everyone believes in the color and accepts it then it should stay. I can see your reasoning we take great pride in our rigs also. Only one comment you might suggest for the next order is a real Federal Q2b <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fireman.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> anyway stay safe.



Stay Low and Safe Brothers,

<img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/3_12_21.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />