Anyone know why Soviet fire engines had white wall tires?

I see it alot. You'll see some videos of a Zil 130 passing by with white wall tires, and even some zil 131's with white wall tires, but they're fire engines. It's become less common now and I've noticed that not many have them anymore, but here's a picture:
I have nothing against it, as a matter of fact it's pretty cool, but I sometimes wonder why and when they started doing this

 

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-Russian-Chinese-and-NK-military-trucks-have-whitewall-tires

 

I would've assumed that it's for the same reason a lot of classic vehicles had them. I assume classic vehicles had them for style, to make the wheels look more interesting.

 

for the same reason that their military vehicles had white pinstriping.
swank.

 

Thanks alot for that ;D I couldn't find anything on it beforehand so this is pretty helpful
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