Henrico fire vehicles returning to red

Henrico fire engines and other emergency response vehicles soon will have a traditional color: red.

The change in color – from the division's existing lime-colored vehicles – corresponds with Henrico Fire's 75th anniversary, which it is celebrating later this year.

Fire officials concluded that the lime color was not as visible as red and was less popular with the public. Henrico Fire vehicles are the only ones in the Richmond region to carry the color.

"In the 1970s, fire departments across the nation started experimenting with a lime yellow paint scheme, based on a study that was done to promote visibility of fire trucks," Henrico Fire officials wrote on the division's Facebook page. "Over time, the study was determined to have a number of flaws, and a majority of the department[s] that switched to the lime color abandoned it.

"Since that study was completed in the '70s, the requirements for reflective markings, additional warning lights, and a number of other features have made our vehicles far safer than they ever have been in the past."

The existing vehicles will not be repainted, officials said; rather, they will be phased out during a period of 15 years and replaced with red vehicles, Fire Chief Anthony E. McDowell told the Board of Supervisors July 10. The bulk of the replacements will occure during the next 6 or 7 years, he said.

Henrico Fire officials plan to commemorate the division's 75th anniversary by creating special firefighter badges, lapel pins and challenge coins, McDowell said.

“This is a time of reflection for those of us that came before,” said fire department chief Anthony E. McDowell.

– Julia Raimondi contributed to this article