The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) is calling on city leaders to prioritize spending for more hose tender fire trucks. This particular type of fire truck costs $1 million each, and while orders have been placed for a few of them, according to a 2019 Civil Grand Jury (CGJ) report, that will not be nearly enough.
Plans to expand San Francisco’s high-pressure water system for fighting fires immediately after a major earthquake are beginning to take shape. The plans come following a Civil Grand Jury (CGJ) report in 2019 demanded that the City take action.
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board unanimously adopted Supervisor Gordon Mar’s legislation declaring a State of Urgency to rapidly expand the City’s Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS) to protect all neighborhoods in the event of a major earthquake and fire.
At Friday’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting, Supervisor Gordon Mar’s resolution declaring a State of Urgency to rapidly expand the City’s EFWS to protect all neighborhoods in the event of a major earthquake and fire received unanimous support.
The agenda of the SFPUC is not to provide a system using an inexhaustible supply of seawater, which is the only certain means by which the SFFD will be able to control post-earthquake fires, but rather to use Earthquake Bond money to slowly replace their antiquated and fragile drinking water mains.
After a Civil Grand Jury reported that large parts of San Francisco could burn to the ground after an earthquake if something is not done soon, four city supervisors and a state assemblyman have called the situation urgent and demanded action.
By Thomas K. Pendergast A recent Civil Grand Jury (CGJ) report has raised questions about post-earthquake fire protection after the next major temblor and whether firefighters will have enough water pressure to […]
… the Civil Grand Jury found that large parts of the City, such as the Outer Richmond, Outer Sunset and Bayview/Hunters Point districts, among others, do not have a high-pressure AWSS, and would be particularly vulnerable to fire damage when the next major earthquake strikes.
Someday another earthquake of the magnitude that hit San Francisco in 1906 is expected to strike again. A bond proposal to expand an emergency water system for fighting fires that will likely follow a massive quake was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
In the aftermath of the ruptured gas pipeline fire that torched several buildings at Geary Boulevard and Parker Avenue earlier this year, a local union is calling for more robust permitting requirements, while former tenants of the building put their lives back together.
In response to the February article (Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon) on the use of both Lake Merced water and Sunset Reservoir water to fight post-earthquake fires in the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset, it is gratifying to see that the SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is finally willing to concede that the use of our drinking water alone will not enable the SF Fire Department (SFFD) to combat post-earthquake fires in hundreds of blocks of wood-frame housing.
On Tuesday, March 19, 12:30-3:30 p.m., San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD), in collaboration with Community Youth Center, Agape Community Center and Golden Gate Church, will hold a Community Safety Fair for members of the public.
Plans for San Francisco’s emergency firefighting water system have been expanded to include drafting water from Lake Merced, which could help the entire west side, especially since Sunset Reservoir water could be claimed by other peninsula water districts.
A new plan to expand the emergency water system for firefighting after a major
earthquake seems to be gaining support among San Francisco city officials,
but questions remain about options yet to be explored.
One San Francisco supervisor, the Richmond District’s Sandra Lee Fewer, asked the SF
Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to come up with a study of options for addressing
this issue after it offered a previous solution that the SF Fire Depart ment (SFFD) deemed
unworkable.
