Excerpts from Chicagotonightwttw.com:
Why do Chicago area firehouses have a green light and a red light on the sides of the bay door?
-Geoffrey Baer, WTTWThe convention of a green light and a red light flanking firehouse bay doors and also being mounted on all Chicago fire apparatus actually has its roots in maritime tradition. In the late 1920s, a new fire chief was appointed named Albert Goodrich.
Goodrich’s family owned a rather famous steamship line that ran excursions on the Great Lakes, so his nautical background meant he was very familiar with maritime navigation protocols, and he adopted some of them for the fire department.
Maritime tradition dictates that ships have a red light on the port side, which is the left side as you’re faced forward on a ship, and a green light on the starboard, or right side. When two ships cross paths, the one that sees green has right of way, and the one that sees red must yield right of way.
Buoys at harbor entrances and channels also follow this lighting convention to keep ships from running aground. The mnemonic for this is “red, right, returning” and “green, left, leaving” – especially helpful to remember for safe passage in inclement weather or in the dark.
One of Commissioner Goodrich’s first acts was to adapt this convention to fire apparatus, placing a green light on the right side of bay doors and trucks, and red lights on the left sides. This was a time of great growth and transition for the fire department, and Goodrich was instrumental in modernizing equipment and practices.
He was the first commissioner to command a fleet composed entirely of motorized vehicles. This motorization of fire fleets was, of course, happening around the country – but even though it would be fitting for Chicago to be the birthplace of a fire department tradition, the red and green lights custom is something you’ll see in very few places outside of the Chicago area.
thanks Dan
