American Canyon California Fire Officials Say Fire Engines Are Better Off Red

May 27--AMERICAN CANYON -- Changing the color of the city's Fire District equipment from greenish/yellow to red will be among the topics at issue at Tuesday's 6:30 p.m. City Council meeting.

In fact, the meeting is scheduled to be dominated by Fire District-related items, including:

--Going back to red when replacing Fire District apparatus.

Along with many other fire departments, American Canyon's moved to greenish-yellow apparatus in the 1970s based on the belief that this would enhance visibility and safety, according to a staff report.

Advances in retro-reflective materials on vehicles and lighting made since then has prompted many departments to return to the traditional red color. Since the district's new water tender and fire engine will meet all latest visibility safety standards no matter what color they are, district staff would like them to be red.

Proponents of traditional red fire apparatus claim that recognition of a vehicle for its purpose -- like the yellow school bus -- is as important as visibility, staff says.

It is a common belief that people are more likely to identify red with a fire apparatus than other colors and since there are no statistics suggesting that either color fire apparatus are involved in fewer accidents, the decision of fire apparatus paint color is primarily a matter of preference.

--Authorizing the fire chief to pay $65,000 for the consulting services of Stuart Blakesley for FY 2012, in lieu of hiring an assistant

fire chief, which, at $67.77 per hour, represents a significant cost savings compared to a full time employee with benefits, staff says.

--Adopting the American Canyon Fire Protection District Joint Powers Agreement with the city of Napa, effective July 1.

Adopting the fees staff recommends, based on the total cost of providing services, will result in the district board attaining its cost recovery goals by fiscal year 2014/2015.

--Declaring an unusable 1989 Beck fire engine as surplus, and authorizing buying a new one for $464,215.17 from Hi-Tech Emergency Vehicle Service, Inc. to be delivered no later than 300 days from the date of the purchase order.

The board approved up to $550,000 for a replacement fire engine in its FY2011-2012 budget.

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at RachelVTH.