Fire House Light

[VERIZONEMTFL]

Hello to all,
First of all, I want to appologize for my ignorance of fire service history. I have been a EMS for 15 years and have alot of respect for firefighters. But there is a question that no one has been able to give me a good answer to. What does the red light outside the bay doors at a fire station represent????

[ADSNWFLD]

One light is red the other is green. The red should be on the right as you are facing the bay doors.
They are a throwback from the days when most engineers on the seaport towns were sailors.
The red and green lights are the same as the red and green lights that mark the entrance of a harbor. It is an old tradition like the red and green lights on some rigs.

[nomad1085]

We don't have one, but some have them from back in the day as a signal for motorists to stop and let the fire truck out (Not they ever would now a days). There is one on the downtown station that has a "Stop On Red" sign on it. I don't know if it even works nor would I expect it to ever make traffic stop, the road was probably 20 feet wide when it was installed. Now it is 4 lanes with a median and parking spaces on both sides. I've never seen port and starbord lights on firehouse bay before.

[NYSmokey]

We have a red light outside our station just above the emergency call box. Smash the glass and push a button and our siren goes off. Hasn't been used in the 7 years I've been there! I just thought it was there to draw attention to the call box

Stay safe everyone!

[Adze39]

We don't have a red and green light, we have two red lights...

Nomad...I don't think he's talking about traffic lights. The lights are normal light bulbs on the outside of the firehouse wall with a red lens around it.

[DaFAO]

I can think of one station in the area (volunteer department) which has them...One of the guys there said the red light goes on when a call is in progress...Haven't seen a green one...