Metro West Fire Protection District’s yellow fire trucks protect the District from 5 Fire Houses.  Our Fire District is rather large with 57 and a half square miles to cover.  We have specific kinds of fire trucks at specific stations to do specific tasks.  For example, one of the oldest and busiest areas is the Station #1 area in the City of Ballwin.  At this station, we have 3312, a yellow pumping engine with a 75 foot aerial ladder.  The aerial ladder can be used for rescue as well as for flowing high volumes of water.

Being a full-time and full service Fire District we provide Fire Suppression (We put the wet stuff on the red stuff), and many other services for our constituents.  We even provide this service for our neighbors in Chesterfield, Manchester, Creve Coeur, and more.  But that will be covered on another issue of this website.  For now, we have three common questions to answer.

HOW COME THE FIRE TRUCKS ARE YELLOW?

But then we really haven’t answered then question about why the trucks are yellow.  There are two combined answers.  While red is the traditional color of fire trucks, and most fire departments use that color, red is an absolutely horrible color at night.  Essentially, red is black at night.  Without reflective markings, you can see a red vehicle no better than any other dark color.  The most visible color for day or night is a variation of yellow called lime yellow.  This is a greenish yellow color that frankly, we thought was pretty ugly for a fire truck.  We chose a companion color that makes the truck more visible in the daylight as well as the night time – bright yellow.  The pride part of the answer comes with the feeling that we are one of the best fire districts in the State.  We also wanted to stand out a little and the yellow trucks certainly do that.  So, when you see a yellow fire truck going down the street, you don’t even have to read the name on the side – it’s Metro West.

HOW COME FIRE TRUCKS COME WHEN I CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE?

A very common question, but with an easy and logical question.  A routine call for an ambulance will only bring an ambulance, if the closest ambulance is available.  If an ambulance from a more distant station is to respond, then we also send the closest pumper to render aid in the fastest time possible.  You see, we have paramedics on the fire trucks along with a full compliment of medications to deal with virtually any kind of illness or injury.

Another reason why you might see a fire truck or rescue truck is because of the type of call received.  A ‘life threatening’ ambulance call will bring an additional vehicle to help with the alarm.  If we have a cardiac arrest, it takes a lot of people to make it go right.  If two people are doing CPR, then one of the paramedics may be calling the hospital, another paramedic may be getting medications ready and another paramedic may be monitoring the heart activities.  Since we have only two people on each ambulance, we send more help on the alarms that may need it the most.

WHY DO YOU BREAK WINDOWS WHEN A HOUSE IS ON FIRE?

No, we’re not trying to be destructive.  Actually, by breaking a few windows at the right time, we can actually save damage from happening to the house and contents on fire and assist people trying to get out.  When a fire occurs in a closed up building, the fire will eat up materials and oxygen as fast as it can.  It will also travel from ceiling or highest level and bank down to lower levels.  The heat and smoke can easily and quickly bank down all the way to the floor.

When we arrive and note the conditions, we can set up positive pressure ventilation (blow air INTO the building) at one entrance (front door) and then open or break a window at the opposite end of the building and push the heated and poisonous gas out the far windows.  This lifts the gases and smoke from the floor level, saving damage to some items, but it also lifts the smoke out of the way of the most likely path of people trying to exit the fire.  The firefighters also have a easier time finding you this way.

Got questions about why we do things?  Want to know more about what we do?  Just send an e-mail to Dennis Cavin, Battalion Chief, at dennisca@metrowest-fire.org and I will do my best to answer your questions.