Neon Flower Fire Trucks... No, Really!

[Image7801]

Great stuff, Eric, and a great cause for sure.  Thanks for posting them!

 

John

[Mark V. Carr]

Nice!  If I was out that way, I'd definitely go out of my way to shoot those rigs!  Great idea.

[hank]

Good photos!

tHANKs

[Guest]

Those rigs are AWESOME!!!! Great work, and for a good cause.

[ff002]

I think I just threw up in my mouth....

 

Ok, its a good cause.

Ok, it gets kids looking at fire trucks (I guess this is a problem?!! is red too plain for them?)

 

Our core mission is emergency response. Yeah we do prevention, but the core reason we buy fire trucks is to keep people safe. And firefighters....

 

Urban camouflauge! where the truck has too much going on that it is confusing to the eye. Plenty of research that says solid colours is best. Put a firefighter in front of that and some old fart wont be able to pick him out.

 

We need the public to see the trucks ASAP. The lights attract but the big red truck sends the message "fire" and "let us through"....I am sure every tourist in Aspen will instantly know its a fire truck and not a play structure.

 

And we wonder why our kids have ADD, and I am just talking about rookies here.

 

I am getting grumpy in my old age.

[CFD Adv207]

Yes, very grumpy...you should have kept that to yourself.

 

Great cause, no harm, no foul!

 

Besides, people don't see or hear the big red trucks anyway....

[Guest]

WOW ffdrive .....  That display of thoughts may indicate you may be the NFPA President.......

[Guest]

Last weekend I had the privilege of photographing the Portraits of Hope project in Aspen & Snowmass, Colorado.  The organization brought 2,000 children and 250 adult volunteers from various hospitals & social service programs together for creative therapy.  Large canvases with black outlines were provided to the facilities and the children filled them with color.  The Braille Institute was one of the participants and their canvas outlines were textured to allow the visually impaired students to paint also.  Each year Portraits of Hope conducts the largest public art project in the country by decorating various objects.  In past years they’ve covered LA Lifeguard Towers, NY Taxi Cabs, Planes, NASCAR’s, Boats and Blimps.  For 2013 the organizers wanted to decorate emergency vehicles and one of them had a connection to the Snowmass Village community.  They approached Snowmass-Wildcat Fire who also invited Aspen Fire & Aspen Ambulance District to the planning meetings.  The artwork was converted into vehicle wraps and installed on the apparatus.  Mountain Rescue, Pitkin Sheriff & Aspen Police also joined in and decorated their vehicles.  Installation on all 32 vehicles was completed in mid-June and will remain until fall.  Aspen Ambulance is currently working with Portraits of Hope to keep the graphic wraps until the end of the ESPN X-Games so the project will get even more promotion.                       



 

First up is Snowmass-Wildcat Ladder 71



2012 Pierce Arrow XT PUC 500 / 1500 / 75'



01.jpg                                                                                   

Thanks Toneslider.......   Nice "Outside da box thinking"!!

[Roto-Ray]

Its interesting to see the reaction to these rigs.

 

On another forum I'm on, the nearly-unanimous reaction has been exactly like ffdrive's.

 

At the risk of also being the safety crumudgeon on the board, I unfortuntely have to agree with him.  I completely understand and applaud the efforts of the department, the children, and the foundation that's behind this, but I just can't imagine trying to overtake an intersection with something in this camoflauge pattern and have the public quickly identify what I'm in.

 

That being said, from an apparatus buff's perspective, I think they're unique, and I'd shoot them in a minute if they weren't several thousand miles away.   Thanks for capturing each one of the rigs, Eric!

[Juice]

Wow! What did they use for the texture do you know? It looks like crumbled up sidewalk chalk, which I'm sure it isn't, because that would just melt...

 

Trav!

[Guest]

I would have no qualms about driving one of those rigs!! Given the bright colors on the paint job(s) combined with the proper use of lights and sirens.......trust me, they're gonna get noticed at an intersection!!!! The reactiion is probably gonna be "...what the hell is that???....."but it's gonna get noticed!!!!

[Guest]

??Safety???  Seems we may have a Lime vs. Red vs. White "debate" returning.LOL...  As large and NOISEY as todays apparatus is,color is just tradition. Why do "Snow Companies" have White Apparatus? To blend?

[Guest]

Thanks everyone, the photos don't do the rigs justice.  In person there's more of wow factor; a few of the rigs like Tower 71 have a different material wrap that appears to glow more than the others.

 

As far as the safety concern goes, I see both sides of it.  Something to consider is Snowmass has zero traffic lights in their district and all single lane roads with most speed limits 25 mph or less.  For them at least the risk of collision is very low.  Aspen deals with more traffic and one four lane highway where it could be an issue but all the firefighters I spoke with said people seem to be yielding as they normally would if not a bit faster than before. 

 

Wow! What did they use for the texture do you know? It looks like crumbled up sidewalk chalk, which I'm sure it isn't, because that would just melt...

 

Trav!

The guys weren't sure when I asked but I thought it felt similar to Rhino Lining, it was tough yet rubbery.  What ever it is, it sticks to the wrap which will peel off relatively easy from what they say. 

[Guest]

??Safety???  Seems we may have a Lime vs. Red vs. White "debate" returning.LOL...  As large and NOISEY as todays apparatus is,color is just tradition. Why do "Snow Companies" have White Apparatus? To blend?

 

Speaking to the white rigs in the snow... Denver's older apparatus with strobe lights were practically invisible at accidents on the snowy highway in my opinion.  Now that they've added chevron and LED's it's gotten better though. 

[jlg1875]

I think I just threw up in my mouth....

 

Ok, its a good cause.

Ok, it gets kids looking at fire trucks (I guess this is a problem?!! is red too plain for them?)

 

Our core mission is emergency response. Yeah we do prevention, but the core reason we buy fire trucks is to keep people safe. And firefighters....

 

Urban camouflauge! where the truck has too much going on that it is confusing to the eye. Plenty of research that says solid colours is best. Put a firefighter in front of that and some old fart wont be able to pick him out.

 

We need the public to see the trucks ASAP. The lights attract but the big red truck sends the message "fire" and "let us through"....I am sure every tourist in Aspen will instantly know its a fire truck and not a play structure.

 

And we wonder why our kids have ADD, and I am just talking about rookies here.

 

I am getting grumpy in my old age.

Well I agree with ya, GREAT cause and I'm all for it, but really BAD idea to wrap emergency vehicles. Did they need to wrap all the frontline apparatus? I think one frontline rig and then several auxiliary units from these departments certainly could have sufficed. Heaven forbid someone gets hurt in an accident, civilian or MOS, I can only imagine the litigation, the lawyers would have a field day. Maybe they'll choose active military vehicles next year and we can wrap tanks and Humvees in combat. 

[Guest]

 

On another forum I'm on, the nearly-unanimous reaction has been exactly like ffdrive's.

 

 

Taylor, would this other forum be on Facebook?

[Roto-Ray]

Taylor, would this other forum be on Facebook?

 

No, another emergency vehicle forum.


Edit: come to think of it, I don't know if I've seen these posted in any of the Facebook fire truck groups I'm in.

[Guest]

I would love to get models of these trucks. Too bad all the die cast companies are going out of business.

[jshippey]

I presume that these were sick or disabled children who participated in this project??? Let everyone enjoy the fruits of their labor and forget about all the negatives. Great pics Eric!

[Guest]

An amazing set of pics well done. Found this on flickr a few weeks ago. Full set of vehicles

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50697926@N0...307190729/