Sunday, December 18, 2011

"House of Blues" - for now!

The Corona Fire Dept. is located just to the west of us. They are a little smaller than us (seven stations, I think) with similar equipment and culture. One of things that I have always admired about them, is that their apparatus has presented well - their units just looked sharp. Aside from being well maintained, one of the factors regarding their apparatus appearance is that it was painted white with blue trim.


I'm probably going to take some heat for this, but I really like this paint scheme. The reason I am posting about this is that Corona is going to be phasing out the white and blue paint for the more traditional red. They are not going to repaint the fleet, but when an apparatus is replaced, the new unit will be red. It is my understanding that any unit getting a new paint job due to refurbishment will be done in red as well.

Frankly, I am bummed about it.

Image kyped from Corona Fire web-site

I really have no dog in this fight (actually, there is no fight either) it's just a matter of preference for me. With the exception of Corona, Norco (more on that later), Palm Springs and Idyllwild, all of the departments in my county have had red apparatus. I gave it up to those agencies for being a little different in their selection of color and for the appearance of their equipment.


I have no doubt that the crews over in Corona will continue to deliver high quality service and will continue to maintain their equipment in a manner that showcases it's beauty.


It's just they won't look as good while doing it.

*****

Thanks to the crew of E1 for letting me snap some photos while finishing up a run, it saved me a trip to one of the stations. I was in Corona taking care of some business and was trying to remember where some of their stations were when an ambulance drove past me, code three. I looked in my rear-view and saw Engine 1 pull into the parking lot that I had just left. A u-turn and 15 minutes later, I had the shots and was in the middle of a great conversation with the crew.

I recognized one of the crew, I think we were on the USAR team together. After chatting for a while, they went back to the barn and I headed over to the Norco FD to research a post that I will be doing next week I wish them well.

Thanks for reading,
Schmoe

4 comments:

  1. I hear you, Capt. We began a change from red to white about 10 years ago, and it has become a major source of pride and company identity. We run the only non-red apparatus in the county.

    There would be a fight if they wanted to change back.

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  2. The small town where I grew up went to a blue on white paint scheme a few years ago. They don't have any pics of the fleet on their city web page so I'll see if I can't get some pics for you next time I go down to visit my folks.

    It's a small department (two engines, one reserve engine, and an E-One Bronto Skylift that was the first of it's type in the U.S. for 26K people) and their apparatus are getting a bit long in the tooth (late nineties for the most part) but you couldn't ask for a harder working bunch of guys. Having seen them in action first hand in training, on a couple of medical runs, and on an ugly residential fire I was nothing but impressed.

    And that ugly residential fire...
    Hoarder. In July with temps and humidity both in the mid nineties.

    BGM

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  3. I like traditional red, but that white and blue scheme is sort of unique and funky. And let's face fact that we spot fire vehicles by their sirens first and then their lights, not their color.

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  4. Mack505 - I wouldn't have objected had we gone to white, but it ain't never gonna happen. I think there is something to be said for being a little different sometimes.

    BGMiller - A white and blue Bronto Skylift. I'll bet there aren't too many of those around!

    Hoarder fires are never any fun, let alone in sauna like conditions.

    EBL - I agree. Emergency lighting is probably the biggest factor when it comes to visibility, though people usually don't even look for us until they hear us.

    Thanks for the comments!

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