Index to Fire Department Reports
Municipal Reports
THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
AND FIRE OF APRIL 1906
2. Fire Department">
Index to Fire Department Reports Municipal Reports THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 2. Fire Department, the Fires Break Out (This
report is presented exactly as written by an unknown member of the department in
1907) Immediately
following the earthquake of April 18, 1906, it was noticed that fires were
breaking out in nearly every portion of the city. Some were caused by electric
wires, others started by from broken flues and overturned stoves in restaurants
and from coal oil lamps upsetting. It is positively known that there were over
fifty fires in different locations at one time that morning, and
probably there were many more that were put out by the occupants of the houses
where they occurred. At
Twenty-second and Mission streets a fire broke out in a large three-story
building that was occupied as a dry-goods store, and which occupied nearly a
quarter of a block. Through the energetic efforts of the engine companies
stationed in that immediate vicinity, and with the aid of what little water that
was obtained from a cistern on the corner of Twenty-second and Shotwell streets,
this fire was confined to the building in which it originated, otherwise all the
Mission section of the city would have been destroyed. South
of Market street and east of Sixth street fierce fires were soon burning in many
places, and it was clearly seen that this section of the city was doomed. Mission
Street Burning Behind the U.S. Mint A
determined stand was made by the department to prevent this conflagration from
spreading to the west and across Market street. Eighth street was the place
determined upon and the work of dynamiting the buildings on the west side of
that street from Market south commenced. The
result was that this fire was checked there and would not have extended farther
west, but for a fire that broke out in the neighborhood of Gough and Hayes
streets about ten o'clock A. M. that morning. (Ham and Eggs Fire) Had
there been the slightest quantity of water obtainable when this latter fire was
discovered it could have easily been extinguished, but we were compelled to
watch it burn and spread. The Ham and Eggs Fire Starts on Hayes Street. This
is the fire that caused the destruction of the Mission district as well as the
Hayes Valley section, including the Mechanics' Pavilion and the City Hall. (and
my grandfather's store and house at Hayes and Franklin) Meanwhile
the numerous fires in the wholesale district north of Market street were
gradually assuming gigantic proportions and gaining in magnitude, and without
the means to successfully battle with the same, the department was unable to
stay its course. The Business District from the
Fairmont Hotel The
conflagration lasted for fully three days, and at the end thereof, the members
of this department, who had been continuously on duty, without sleep and barely sufficient
food, were well-nigh exhausted.
AND FIRE OF APRIL 1906 
