yellow helmets

[bhff22]

I was looking at the pictures from the recent 6th alarm in Queens and noticed that some of the battalion chiefs had yellow helmets, I thought yellow in FDNY was for the defunct auxiliaries

 

[Bulldog]

I think or you may have been seeing was the fluorescent tetrahedrons on the helmets for reflectivity.  Depending an lighting conditions they can make the entire helmet look yellow.  I've never seen a chief in New York or any other city wear a yellow helmet and after looking through the pictures of the fire you mentioned that appears to be the case. 

 

[RPM3311]

I think what he means in the goldish helmets some of the Chiefs wear. Look at this photo from Daniel Alfonso, it does look yellow but its actually gold.

http://bigapplefirephotography.smugmug.com/gallery/7343152_L5YvS/1/472604527_puJYA#472604527_puJYA

 

[TN46]

I think thats just because its been thru a few fires.  You can see where the tetrahedrons used to be it is still white.

 

[tbendick]

For some reason the White Chiefs helmet turns yellow with age. 
You can't paint them like the old days and make them white again, so you will see some of these "yellow" ones around.