What colour should a fire hydrant be?

Fire hydrant, Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC

The District of West Vancouver is repainting its fire hydrants. These hydrants have been around for decades. At one time they were all red. (You can see some spots of red paint where the white has flaked off.) Then the bodies were painted white while the caps remained red. Now the colour is returning to all red.

Red has long been the colour associated with fire departments, despite the fact that in low light red can sometimes be hard to see. In many jurisdictions new fire trucks are yellow rather than red. (This is evidently due yellow vehicle's higher visibility which leads to fewer vehicles being involved in accidents.)

I think that the red and white combination is actually easier to see than all red. But it seems that the District has spoken and red it is. I'm sure the traditionalists will be happy.