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Fireboats of San Francisco

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As a major port a number of fireboats of San Francisco have been operated by the city of San Francisco since 1878.

fireboats of San Francisco
image name entered
service		 retired notes
Governor Irwin 1878 1909
Governor Markham 1895
David Scannell 1909 1954
  • Steam powered.
Dennis T. Sullivan 1909 1954
Frank G. White 1947 1978
  • A tugboat with fire-fighting capability, which would be called into service for particularly serious fires, or when the full-time fireboats were undergoing maintenance.
Phoenix 1955
  • Was scheduled to be retired, as a cost-saving measure, but was still in service when the San Francisco area was hit by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
  • Remains in service.
Guardian 1990
  • The Guardian was donated to the city by private citizens after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The pumps of the Phoenix played a key role in fire prevention in areas where the earthquake had broken water mains.
  • The vessel had previously served in Vancouver, British Columbia.
St. Francis 2016
  • In October 2014, San Francisco started building a modern fireboat.
  • Is capable of pumping 18,000 gallons per minute through five water cannons.
  • She will be equipped with a stern launch ramp, similar to those US Coast Guard cutters use to deploy pursuit boats to capture smugglers.
  • One of the department's older fireboats may be retired when the new vessel enters service.

United States Navy fireboats USS Leslie, USS Fortune and USS Active were employed to fight the fires triggered in the aftermath of the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These vessels were not operated by the San Francisco Fire Department, which did not have any active fireboats at the time of the disaster.

References

  1. ^ Joanne Hayes-White. "New fireboat project" (PDF). San Francisco Fire Department. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  2. ^ "San Francisco Fire Department Museum ~ Fireboats ~ Governor Irwin". Guardiansofthecity.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  3. "San Francisco Fire Department 1906 Earthquake and Fire Operations". Sfmuseum.org. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  4. "Port of San Francisco Fireboat: Governor Markham". Guardiansofthecity.org. Retrieved 2019-10-21. Negotiations between the State of California, who owned the Port of San Francisco at that time, and the City and County of San Francisco as to who would pay for her fire protection services were never concluded. Due to this fact, there are no records in the San Francisco Fire Department of the Governor Markham's fire service.
  5. Erika Lee, Judy Yung (200). Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. Oxford University Press. p. 300. ISBN 9780199752799. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  6. "Dennis T. Sullivan". Guardians of the City. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  7. "SFFD Fireboats: Frank G. White". Guardiansofthecity.org. Retrieved 2019-10-21. The Frank White was a tugboat owned by the State of California, the operator the Port of San Francisco. Because of its firefighting capabilities, the Department had an agreement with the Port to use The Frank White during fires. When a greater alarm was called at a pier fire, the White would stop its tug operations and proceed to the fire.
  8. Donna Peck (2001). San Francisco: Romantic Diversions in and Around the City. Globe Pequot. pp. 73, 161. ISBN 9780762708468. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  9. Brent Begin (November 9, 2009). "New skin for an old fire station". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  10. "Guralnick Designs City's New Fireboat". Marine Digest. 58: 42. 1980. Archived from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  11. "SFFD Fireboats: Phoenix". Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  12. Carl Nolte (2016-10-17). "SF welcomes new fireboat to fleet on anniversary of Loma Prieta". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-10-16. The new boat, painted red and white, will be the city's third fireboat. It was named St. Francis and christened with the traditional bottle of Champagne by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who helped get $8 million in federal grants, the majority of the cost.
  13. Cheryl Jennings (2014-10-13). "Lessons learned from Loma Prieta earthquake". ABC. Archived from the original on 2014-10-14. San Francisco is now building a third more modern fire boat, but still needs funding for more portable hydrants.
  14. ^ Peter Ong (2014-12-16). "Meet SFFD's New Fireboat Technology". Marinelink. Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2014-12-16. Surrounded on three sides by water with the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Golden Gate Strait to the north, and San Francisco Bay to the East, the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) currently relies on two old and refurbished fireboats, the Phoenix (built in 1954) and the Guardian (built in 1951) to serve as fire protection assets for the waters around the City.
  15. ^ "Third fireboat to join city's legendary fleet". San Francisco Examiner. 2015-11-24. Deputy Chief of Administration Raymond Guzman told Fire Commissioners at a meeting in late October that the department may need to decommission one of the boats. "At this point we're going to have three fireboats for a while and we still need to determine whether we're going to keep two or three," he said.
  16. "Navy Firefighting Operations". Sfmuseum.org. 1906-04-30. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  17. "USFS Chicago 1906 Fire Operations". Sfmuseum.org. Retrieved 2012-03-08.

External links

Fleets of fireboats by location
Canadian cities
United States locations
Fireboats by river
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