Lime-Yellow Urged as Fire Engine Color

The safest color for a fire engine is not red but lime-yellow, according to an optometrist and member of the Owego Volunteer Fire Department. He said the eye is most sensitive to yellows and greens.

He noted that firefighters in Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco, where the engines are red, have more than twice as many collisions at intersections as fire fighters in Detroit Newark and Kansas City, where the engines are painted lime-yellow.

“It’s a grating, irritating color,” he said, “which is exactly why it should be used.”