Sad State for Fire Equipment

[41chevy]

San Francisco Examiner
Monday July 31, 2017

By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

San Francisco’s collection of 32 antique fire-fighting vehicles is probably one of its best-kept historical secrets, all in the care of the nonprofit Guardians of The City.

Want to see a “hose cart” that saved San Francisco from flames in 1850? They’ve got it. How about a 75-foot “water tower” on wheels, used to douse the 1906 fire following the earthquake? You bet. Maybe take a trip down memory lane with a 1958 cherry-red fire engine? That too.

Here’s the catch: You can’t see any of the vehicles because the collection is essentially homeless.

Guardians of The City is pulling the proverbial fire alarm and calling on San Francisco to find a home where people can visit this beautiful vintage collection. The group will present its dilemma to the Fire Commission on Wednesday night.

James Lee, a retired firefighter and chair member of Guardians’ board, told me he hopes the Fire Commission and the mayor will help find a permanent residence for the vehicles.

“We’re going hat in hand” to city leaders, he said.

You see, San Francisco actually owns most of the collection but hasn’t found it a home.

Right now, the fire apparatus are essentially “couch-surfing” in an Academy of Art garage on Jerrold Avenue.

Prior to that, the collection of machines that spans from 1820 to 1992 bipped and bopped from facility to facility, from Treasure Island to the Bayview. But time in open-air garages led to weather damage.

In 2014, the estimated value of the collection was $2,647,500. After a few damp winters, the new estimated value is $1,437,080.

A San Francisco native raised “where the fog meets the mountain” west of Twin Peaks, Lee sadly noted, “Some of it is beyond repair.”

As a fellow San Francisco native with pride in my hometown, I should point out that last year was the 150th anniversary of the fire department — a missed opportunity to seek aid to house the collection, if there ever was one.

Even Willie Brown, Da (former) Mayor turned columnist, said “absolutely” the vehicles should be preserved, due to “the amount of lives lost over the years and the amount of attention, and pride, everyone has in the fire department.”

I reached out to Mayor Ed Lee’s office, and spokesperson Ellen Canale told me, “San Francisco is committed to preserving and protecting pieces of history that tell the story of our city.”

Even that endorsement may be enough to push for action.

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes White told me in a statement, “The Department supports identifying and securing space to house and protect our vintage apparatus, which is an important piece of our history.”

 

[HeavyGunner]

Wow sure hope they get a permanent spot somewhere before anything more gets ruined. 

[j hancock]

Everyone everywhere wants a bigger garage.  Shame to have them in the weather.

[fxfymn]

Pretty shameful, but not unusual. Very few municipalities seem willing to make the long term financial commitment to keep a fleet of antique apparatus stored and in good condition and most don't even try to do it. Charlotte, NC is one of the few that does, but the local media has been all over the CFD for keeping it on several occasions.

I wonder if the ALF in the rear of the pic is the  "Turbo Chief".

[Red Horse]

You would think that such an extensive collection could almost pay for its upkeep if housed in a decent building with volunteers staffing.  tourist destination like SF would I'm sure draw plenty of fire/truck buffs

[kscarbel2]

7 minutes ago, Red Horse said:

You would think that such an extensive collection could almost pay for its upkeep if housed in a decent building with volunteers staffing.  tourist destination like SF would I'm sure draw plenty of fire/truck buffs

Like the Fire Museum of Maryland...................https://www.firemuseummd.org/

[Red Horse]

10 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Like the Fire Museum of Maryland...................https://www.firemuseummd.org/

I think Kevin that the Univ. of Maryland has a significant "fire science" program and has had for years.  

[fxfymn]

The Fire Museum of Maryland is basically supported by the personal fortune of the Heaver family. If or when the family loses interest in the museum it will fall to the wayside of history like so many other museums have. You would think with all of the "Tech wealth" in the Frisco area some one would step up to do the same for them.

The University of Maryland is one of the few university's that has a Fire Protection Engineering program. That is quite a bit different than a fire science program. They also run the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute which is responsible for providing training to all of the fire departments in Maryland. One of the ways they do that is by having a "Special Programs" section that contracts with various companies and government agencies around the world to provide fire service training. The revenues from that program go to support the in-state training efforts.

[Freightrain]

Any time I see discussion of museums all I hear is doom and gloom.   They are just a money pit that has to be kept up by donations from people with the means to do it.  If you walk down the street and ask people for donations for something like this, commonly they will just laugh at you.   In today's society, do they want to waste money on parking a bunch of 100 yr old "junk"?  Nope.    Sad truth.   Most city's can't pay for the things they really need, so there is no extra money for museums.

I do hope something good does come for them.

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 8/1/2017 at 7:48 AM, fxfymn said:

I wonder if the ALF in the rear of the pic is the  "Turbo Chief".

I am pretty sure that the three Turbo Chiefs had the turbines removed after being proven to much of a PITA. Most especially when one that was on a hydrant one night set a building on fire with the exhaust. 

[kscarbel2]

http://guardiansofthecity.org/sffd/museum_collections/apparatus/eng_co_no14.html

[kscarbel2]

Vintage San Francisco Fire Trucks Seeking a Home

Joe Rosato Jr., Bay Area NBC  /  August 2, 2017

A collection of historic antique San Francisco fire engines is slowly deteriorating beneath the rain and sun in an industrial parking lot, as a group historians sound the alarm to city officials.

The group of more than a dozen trucks, one used to fight the1906 earthquake and fire, has been without an indoor home in years, after bouncing around between city warehouses on Treasure Island and Bayview-Hunters Point.

Several years ago the Academy of Art donated space for the collection in a warehouse in the industrial Bayshore area, but bounced the collection to the parking lot about a year ago when it needed the space.

“As you can see there’s extensive deterioration due to it’s being stored outside,” said James Lee, a retired San Francisco firefighter who is trying to find the trucks a new home.

Lee said the collection, which includes water tenders, ladder trucks and other unique apparatus, is rotting in the elements — especially following a particularly wet winter which repeatedly blew off the protective tarps. Lee’s group, Guardians of the City, has been providing care for the trucks though they are officially city property.

“What I see here now,” Lee said, “is there is a benign neglect with regards to the protection of this historical equipment.”

Last week, Lee and his group issued a plea to the San Francisco Fire Commission to find shelter for the collection. Commission members said it was urgent the city find shelter for the beleaguered trucks — though they didn’t offer an immediate solution. They set an October hearing date to consider more options.

Both San Francisco fire department officials and the office of Mayor Ed Lee said they support finding a new home for the trucks — though no specific plan is yet in place

Lee and his group have proposed finding space for the collection on Pier 19 or possibly in the city’s vast storage space beneath Civic Center.

“I believe there is space within the city,” Lee said, “and it could happen very easily.”

During his first days in the fire department back in the early 1960s, Lee worked on one of the old ladder trucks now languishing in the lot. He climbed up on the truck’s running board and demonstrated how he would grip its wooden ladder for support as the truck responded to calls. He rode the truck for six months.

“It was a great ride when it was pouring rain,” he chuckled.

He’d also seen a water tender in the collection in action back in the 1970s just before it was retired. The truck, which hailed from the 1920s had reported to a large, stubborn fire in the city’s Tenderloin.

“This thing drove up,” Lee recalled. “They put it up, turned it on, fire went out.”

Lee eventually hopes to see the collection restored to its original glory. He wants to find companies and benefactors to sponsor the trucks’ restoration. But before that can happen — he said — they first need a home.

“It brings a lot of memories,” Lee said pacing past the row of trucks. “There’s a lot of water under the bridge.”

Video - http://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Vintage-San-Francisco-Fire-Trucks-Seeking-a-Home_Bay-Area-438225733.html

[fxfymn]

Quote

I am pretty sure that the three Turbo Chiefs had the turbines removed after being proven to much of a PITA. Most especially when one that was on a hydrant one night set a building on fire with the exhaust. 

We had one of the three and I rode on it after it had been re-powered. The turbos are quite an interesting story and our Company 9's spawned quite a few stories and legends. I don't know about setting a building on fire while operating, but the fire house where ours ran out of had to put a plate on the ceiling to keep the exhaust from burning it after it caught fire when the truck spooled up. The reason ours was re-powered was the pump governor kept failing and it was a huge expense to fly a tech out from Boeing to do the repair. 

Unfortunately the truck went to somewhere in Central America as part of a foreign aid program we got involved in around 1980. The bell was saved and is still used as our ceremonial bell at memorial services and funerals.

[david wild]

Freebies are more important then preserving anything from the past. Do you not understand, if no past than nothing to compare today's stupid actions against??? And besides, all those poor people who broke the law to come here need housing and food, and we all know that is far more important than some old fire engines. You selfish people.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Carl, supposedly one of the two in San Fran set an awning of a building on fire while it was pumping at a plug at a multi-alarm job. Up to that point there had been discussion of re-powering but this was the absolute death knell for the turbines. 

[fxfymn]

I figured the SFFD rig had been re-powered, but I cannot imagine why else they would save an ALF 900.

[1958 F.W.D.]

A picture of Seattle's tiller just popped up on the SPAAMFAA facebook group, lemme see if I can copy and paste it here. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

From the SPAAMFAA facebook page, credit to the unknown original photographers. 

 

[BillyT]

FWD,what a beautiful rig!