San Francisco city leaders on Friday finished the first step of their annual painting project: spraying a new coat of silver finish onto two fire hydrants that saved the western half of the city during the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Every year, these hydrants on Hayes and Buchanan streets, and Ellis and Van Ness streets, are graced with a fresh silver sheen on the anniversary of the devastating 1906 earthquake which killed roughly 3,000 people.
Bill Koenig, a retired member of the San Francisco Fire Department explained that in 1905, there were 2,200 hydrants, and only about 45 of them were filled with water.
Koenig added these silver painted hydrants were two of the three that had what firefighters call “extraordinary amounts of water” used to help douse the fires that raged through San Francisco in 1906.
San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said that officials gathered not just to remember the helpful hydrants, but to remind the public that the next big quake is imminent.
“This event is also part of a preparedness message from Mayor Ed Lee and the Department of Emergency Management,” she said. “The more prepared we have our residents, the better off we’ll be when the next seismic activity occurs.”
These hydrants are not just relics, firefighters say the hydrants are still fully functioning and used on a regular basis.
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Koenig laughed and added that when it comes to the silver hydrants, “If something huge came up, the neighbors could say, ‘Hey, this hydrant worked in 1906, I guess it will work now.’”
If a disaster did occur, the city of San Francisco has plans in place so that the lack of emergency water the city experienced in 1906 doesn't happen again. Mindy Talmadge of the San Francisco Fire Department says that city uses two water pump stations as part of it's Auxilary Water Supply System.
"If, for some reason, the dedicated High Pressure Hydrant water supply is exhausted, with the pump stations we have the ability to pump water from the bay to the Twin Peaks Reservoir to continuously fill the system with salt water," Talmadge said. She added that the city could also tap into its portable water supply system which is charged through the bay and underground storage tanks.
At 5:12 a.m. on Saturday, the exact time of the 109th anniversary of the 1906 quake, the Guardians of the City of San Francisco will host a vigil at 20th and Church streets. After the vigil, attendees will also re-paint the golden hydrant at that location which saved San Francisco’s Mission District in 1906 with 36 hours of water supply.
