Danger Ahead: Warning Lights Are A Universal Signal
Warning lights is a generic term for a wide category of light bars, strobe lights, and spotlights that are used by emergency services on their vehicles to warn anyone in the area that there is an emergency - and to get out of the way. Though warning lights could come in any color, just like other lights, instead they are made in the most easily seen and recognizable colors: flashing white, red, or blue. Sometimes they are made in a combination of two or three of those colors to maximize the emergency vehicles' visibility to other drivers and pedestrians.
These vehicles include well known emergency service icons, like fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, each of which use a variety of warning lights to tell other drivers to pull to the side of the road so that they can pass on their way to a fire, medical emergency, or crime scene. Once at the emergency site, these vehicles' warning lights stay on, so that no one gets in the way of emergency personnel, like firefighters, EMTS, and police officers, handing the emergency.
Warning lights are also used by off duty personnel. The next time you see a light flashing from behind a car's grille, get out of his or her way. The driver of that car is likely a volunteer firefighter, who has just heard a call go out over the district's radio signal that there is a fire. Fire trucks cannot go to the scene of the fire unless they are fully staffed, for the safety of the firefighters. While volunteer fire districts have firefighters on duty at all times, they often are unable to staff more than a single crew at a time. This means that if there is a fire that is larger than a single crew can handle, or more than one fire at a time, additional volunteers will rush to the firehouse to put on their turnout gear, and assist in fighting the fire. The warning lights are used so they can get there as soon as possible.
Warning lights are a universal signal to anyone who sees them that there is an emergency, and that the best way for them to help is to pull to the side of the road, or step out of the way, so that the trained professionals can do their job without compounding the emergency with an unfortunate accident.
