I was going through some of the unlabeled coffee can film this afternoon when I ran into this shot of six young men posing on a fire truck. It’s about the size of what we would use for brush fires down here, but I see it’s got ladders and hose reels, so it might have been all Scott City needed for general purpose fire fighting.
The guys look pretty young. I wonder if it might have been an Explorer Post? I’m guessing it was taken in 1966 or 1967. Click on the photo to make it larger.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
I found the original Missourian story that ran August 7, 1965, on the Youth Page. The boys are members of the Illmo-Scott City’s Second Fire Department. They are, bottom row, from left, David Hahs, Mark Hillemann, Cecil Page and Jerry Paul Dunger, chief; top row is Thomas Clymer and Don Underwood.
I always wondered why Scott City had Yellow fire trucks?
Because they were scared?
Better yellow than Red, I always say.
Cheers,
Matt
Here’s the classic reason why fire trucks are red:
Two plus two is four. Four times three is twelve. There are twelve inches in a ruler. Queen Elizabeth was a ruler. The Queen Elizabeth was also a ship. Ships sail the sea. In the sea are fish. Fish have fins. Finns fought the Russians. Russians are “red.” Firetrucks are red… because their always “rushin'” around!
Answering the question, Why are Scott City fire trucks yellow?
Scott City adopted lime-yellow as it’s apparatus color in 1981. Research was suggesting that light colored fire apparatus was more visible than darker colors. Our eyes see all colors as black until light is applied. Our eyes recognize light colors such as white and yellow in low light conditions. Darker colors such as red require more light to be recognized. Research in the early 80’s was suggesting lime yellow over white. Lime yellow was not a common color of consumer automobiles. Lime-yellow would provide the benefits of a light color and was considered an unusual color. This would assist with distinguishing fire apparatus when in traffic. Many fire departments began to use lime-yellow as their fire apparatus color. Over the years many departments have switched back to red. The Scott City Firefighters chose to keep lime-yellow as our fire apparatus. The first and foremost reason is safety.
Wonderful regional photo, Ken.