My wife, Diana, and I love to travel. Recently we visited the San Francisco Bay Area, an area very dear to us because we were married there many years ago. This was not our first trip back, but it had been more 10 years since our last visit. For those of you who have never been to this city, it is one of the most cosmopolitan yet diverse areas of the country.
Our hotel was in the Union Square section of downtown, about two blocks from the famed Powell and Hyde cable-car line. One thing we like to do when traveling is to walk around the cities we visit, and on any given day we would walk between eight and 14 miles. Doing so gives us a better feel for the city and its unique neighborhoods; it also brings a closer feel for the people, the housing, the topography and the challenges these bring to fire and EMS delivery.
If you look at a map of "The City," it is surrounded on three sides by water — the Pacific Ocean on the west and San Francisco Bay on the east, which are connected by the Golden Gate. Its terrain runs from relatively flatland by the water, to the 20-plus-degree inclines of Chinatown, Russian Hill and Nob Hill that divide the city into its unique neighborhoods, each of which has its own language and culture. One minute a responding unit may be dealing with someone who speaks only Chinese and in another may be trying to understand a person speaking Italian.
San Francisco also is a bastion of fire-service history. One of the most notable landmarks is the famous Coit Tower, which sits more than 500 feet above sea level atop Nob Hill. The tower was a gift to the city from the estate of Lillian Hitchcock Coit, a transplanted Kentuckian who arrived in San Francisco with her parents in 1841. During the heyday of the Gold Rush, both her family and her husband acquired substantial wealth and property.
At an early age, Lillian was saved from a fire by members of the Knickerbocker Engine No. 5, and throughout her life she remained devoted not only to them, but to all of the San Francisco fire service — volunteer and career. At the end of her very colorful life, she bequeathed a substantial sum to the city so that two monuments to her beloved firefighters could be built. These included a bronze monument in Washington Park and the white cylindrically designed fire nozzle known as Coit Tower.
While Coit Tower is obviously the more famous of the two, the monument in Washington Park is an equally endearing gift. It depicts three firefighters, cast in bronze, with the middle firefighter holding a speaking trumpet in one hand and pointing off at the imaginary fire with the other. To one side is a firefighter gripping a charged hose line, crouched and ready to attack that fire, while on the other side is a firefighter who has lost his helmet while rescuing a young woman from certain death. The determination on each of these three faces echoes the determination of all of today's firefighters.
The San Francisco Fire Museum is a compact history of the department from its earliest volunteer days just prior to the Gold Rush to the modern era. Along the way, it is one of the best archives of the department's operations during the 1906 earthquake. It features several hand pumpers, two steamers and an American LaFrance engine and Ahrens-Fox piston pumper from the 1920s.
When walking through San Francisco, it is interesting to see how this department has prepared itself to handle both day-to-day and catastrophic operations. Earthquake awareness is on everyone's mind following the recent tragedies in Haiti and Japan, but the San Francisco Bay Area constantly lives with this threat and has experienced major quakes as recently as 1984. Of course, one can't think of the city's earthquakes without contemplating the 1906 quake and subsequent inferno that left the city in ruins.
To help prepare for the next event, the San Francisco Fire Department uses two types of water mains, which are distinguished by the type of fire hydrant that you see on the street. The first utilizes a standard-size hydrant that sits on the regular water main system that crisscrosses the city. The second hydrant style is stockier looking, similar to R2D2, with three large side discharges painted and a bonnet painted blue, red or black. Each of these colors represents one of the three high-capacity underground water storage tanks that gravity-feeds this separate water system. This system was the idea of Chief Engineer Dennis T. Sullivan; Sullivan died during the 1906 earthquake, but the concept he envisioned was later implemented as part of the city's preparation for future earthquakes or long-term water interruption.
We also found one of these larger hydrants and an equipment storage locker not far from Coit Tower. This was situated along a pedestrian walkway midway up a steep hillside. This location provides hose, fire equipment and water to an area that otherwise would be inaccessible to a fire engine. Similarly, truck companies find aerial placement difficult on these streets that easily exceed the normal angle for aerial stabilizers. Ground ladders obviously are essential for such operations, but the steep hillside makes their placement equally difficult. If these challenges were not enough, most of the neighborhoods consist of houses of frame construction that have common exterior walls — literally, one home abuts the next for blocks at a time.
To handle the maritime and waterfront hazards, San Francisco operates two fire boats, the Phoenix and the Guardian. Both are more than 60 years old, but are essential for protecting the waterfront and to provide an additional water source for ground units operating in the bay area. The Guardian was purchased from the Vancouver (B.C.) Fire Department and given to the department by a group of grateful citizens in 1986.
Another interesting item is that San Francisco's fire department also has a group of approximately 40 reserve firefighters who attend regular training and who are available to staff up to 10 reserve fire engines in major emergencies. Many of these firefighters also have taken EMT training. The reserve unit at its zenith trained more than 5,000 people during World War II and has been in continuous service since that time.
The challenges faced by San Francisco are not unlike those we face in our own communities. But the lesson we can learn is that, through their past experience and pre-planning, they are better prepared to handle whatever the future holds in store. We should plan and prepare accordingly.
Chief Robert R. Rielage, CFO, EFO, MIFireE, is the chief of Wyoming (Ohio) Fire — EMS, a 78-member combination fire department bordering Cincinnati. He previously served as the fire marshal of the state of Ohio.
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