San Francisco Fire Department

San Francisco Fire Department
Established	1866
Staffing	Career
Strength	1,700
Stations	45
Engines	43
Trucks	19
Rescues	2
Fireboats	2
EMS Units	45
EMS Level	ALS & BLS
Fire chief	Joanne Hayes-White
Commissioner	Paul Conroy Stephen Nakajo George Lau Victor Makras Clementine Clarke

The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) provides fire and emergency medical services to the City and County of San Francisco, California.

The San Francisco Fire Department, along with the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Sheriff's Department, serves an estimated population of 1.4 million people (which includes the approximately 850,000 citizens residing in the 47.5 square miles (123 km²) of San Francisco, the daytime-commuter population, and the thousands of other visitors, tourists, and others present in the city every day) with approximately 1,700 firefighting and emergency medical field personnel. The department responds to, on average, approximately 73,000 emergency calls annually, with over 80% being emergency medical calls.

History

Volunteer companies were first formed in the city in 1850, and a paid staff established in 1866. In 1906, the department was considered on a par with those of the larger cities on the East Coast, but found itself reduced to fighting the fire of 1906 in the quake aftermath with axes and shovels, as most of the city's water mains were broken and cisterns drained. Fire Chief Dennis Sullivan was killed in his home by a falling chimney early in the disaster.

Operations

Fire Apparatus Profile

• 45 Fire Stations
• 43 Engine Companies
• 19 Truck Companies
• 45 ALS Ambulances(Variable staffing based on time of day)
• 2 Rescue Squads
• 2 Divisions
• 9 Battalions
• 2 Fireboats (Phoenix, Guardian)
• 3 Rescue Captain Units
• 1 CO2 Unit
• 2 Mobile Air Units
• 1 Cliff Rescue Unit
• 1 Swift-Water/Surf Rescue Unit
• 1 CBRNE USAR Rescue Unit
• 1 Hazardous Materials(Haz-Mat.) Unit
• 2 Decon. Units
• 2 Mass Casualty Units
• 1 Pollution Control Unit
• 4 Wildland/Brush Mini-Pumpers
• 2 Attack Hose Tenders
• 3 Hose Tenders
• 1 High-Pressure Battery Unit
• 1 Light Tower Unit
• 1 Fuel Truck
• 1 Utility Unit
• 2 Mobile Air Support Units
• 1 Tow Unit

Fireboat Guardian stands on alert status near the Bay Bridge

Two SFFD Truck Companies at the scene of a 4th Alarm Fire on 41st Ave. in the Sunset District.

Fire station locations

Engine Company	Truck Company	Rescue Squad Company	Special Unit	Command Unit	Address
Engine 1	Truck 1	Rescue Squad 1			676 Howard St.
Engine 2	Truck 2			Battalion 1	1340 Powell St.
Engine 3	Truck 3				1067 Post St.
Engine 5	Truck 5		Light Rescue 5	Division 2	1301 Turk St.
Engine 6	Truck 6				135 Sanchez St.
Engine 7	Truck 7	Rescue Squad 2	Light Rescue 7	Division 3	2300 Folsom St.
Engine 8	Truck 8			Battalion 3	36 Bluxome St.
Engine 9	Truck 9		Hose Tender 9	Battalion 10	2245 Jerrold Ave.
Engine 10	Truck 10		CBRNE 1, Decon. Unit 1		655 Presidio Ave.
Engine 11	Truck 11		Rescue Captain 3	Battalion 6	3380 26th St.
Engine 12	Truck 12				1145 Stanyan St.
Engine 13	Truck 13		Rescue Captain 1, Attack Hose Tender 13, CO2 Unit, Light Tower Unit		530 Sansome St.
Engine 14	Truck 14				551 26th Ave.
Engine 15	Truck 15			Battalion 9	1000 Ocean Ave.
Engine 16	Truck 16		Jet Ski Units, Rescue Boat		2251 Greenwich St.
Engine 17	Truck 17		High-Pressure Battery Unit		1295 Shafter St.
Engine 18	Truck 18		Surf Rescue 1		1935 32nd Ave.
Engine 19	Truck 19				390 Buckingham Way
Engine 20			Mobile Air 1, Mobile Air 2, Pollution Control Unit		285 Olympia Way
Engine 21			Rescue 21, Attack Hose Tender 21		1443 Grove St.
Engine 22			Hose Tender 22		1290 16th Ave.
Engine 23					1348 45th Ave.
Engine 24					100 Hoffman Ave.
Engine 25			Mini-Pumper 25, Mass Casualty Unit 1		3305 3rd St.
Engine 26					80 Digby St.
Engine 28					1814 Stockton St.
Engine 29			Decon. Unit 2		299 Vermont St.
Engine 31			Rescue Captain 2	Battalion 7	441 12th Ave.
Engine 32			Mini-Pumper 32		194 Park St.
Engine 33					8 Capital Ave.
Engine 34			Cliff Rescue 1		499 41st Ave.
			Fireboat 1, Fireboat 2		Pier 22½, The Embarcadero
Engine 36			Haz-Mat. 1	Battalion 2	109 Oak St.
Engine 37					798 Wisconsin St.
Engine 38			Mobile Command 1	Battalion 4	2150 California St.
Engine 39			Mass Casualty Unit 2		1091 Portola Dr.
Engine 40				Battalion 8	2155 18th Ave.
Engine 41					1325 Leavenworth St.
Engine 42					2430 San Bruno Ave.
Engine 43			Mini-Pumper 43	720 Moscow St.
Engine 44			Mini-Pumper 44		1298 Girard St.
Engine 48	Truck 48		Rescue Ambulance 48, Hose Tender 48		Bldg. 157, Avenue D, Treasure Island
Station 49			Medic Units, Rescue Captain 4, Logistics Center		1415 Evans St.
Engine 51					218 Lincoln Ave., Presidio of San Francisco (Part of National Park Service and GGNRA)

Closed Fire Companies/Locations

• Engine 4, Truck 4 - 1648 Pacific Ave., Nob Hill - Closed 1979 (New Station 4 Currently Under Construction in Mission Bay Scheduled Completion Summer 2014)
• Engine 27 - 356 7th St., South of Market - Closed 1980
• Engine 30 - 1300 4th St., Mission Rock - Closed 1976
• Engine 35 - Pier 22 1/2 w/Fireboat, South of Market - Moved to 530 Sansome St., Financial District(Engine 13/Truck 13) - Closed 2009
• Engine 45 - 1348 45th Ave., Ocean Beach - Closed 1972
• Engine 46 - 441 12th Ave., Inner Richmond - Closed 1972
• Engine 47 - 499 41st Ave., Bayview - Closed 1973
• Engine 49 - 2155 18th Ave., Parkside - Closed 1972
• Truck 20 - 285 Olympia Wy., Golen Gate Heights(Engine 23) - Closed 1980
• Battalion 5 - 1443 Grove St., Haight(Engine 21) - Closed 2003
• Battalion 11 - 798 Wisconsin St., , Potrero Hill(Engine 48 - Formerly) - Closed 1970
• Division 1 - Pier 22 1/2 w/Fireboat, Downtown(Engine 35) - Closed 2002

Response Guidelines

• Box/1st Alarm Assignment:
  • 3 Engines
  • 2 Trucks
  • 1 Rescue Squad
  • 2 Battalion Chiefs
  • 1 Division Chief
  • 1 Medic Unit
• Working Fire/Full Box Assignment:
  • 1 Engine(R.I.T.)
  • 1 Rescue Captain
• 2nd Alarm Assignment:
  • 4 Engines
  • 1 Truck
  • 1 Battalion Chief
  • 1 Medic Unit
  • 1 Rescue Captain
  • 1 Mobile Air Unit
• 3rd Alarm Assignment:
  • 4 Engines
  • 2 Trucks
  • 1 Battalion Chief
  • 1 Medic Unit
  • Chief and Deputy Chiefs of Dept. Notified
• 4th Alarm Assignment:
  • 4 Engines
  • 1 Truck
  • 1 Battalion Chief
  • 1 Medic Unit
• 5th Alarm Assignment:
  • 4 Engines
  • 1 Truck
  • 1 Battalion Chief
  • 1 Medic Unit

In popular culture

• The SFFD was the responding fire department to a major high-rise fire disaster in the 1974 film, The Towering Inferno. The film cast many actual firefighters from the department and used many actual SFFD fire trucks during the filming. Fire Station # 38 was also shown in the filming. The exterior shots were done at the Bank of America Building, 555 California.
• The SFFD was also used in the Dirty Harry film series, particularly Rescue Squad 2 in Dirty Harry.
• When a veteran SFFD firefighter is killed and Adrian Monk is blinded in a mysterious attack at a firehouse in the Monk episode "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing," Monk must rely on his other senses to solve the bizarre case. In the course of the episode, he finds that the killer came to the firehouse to steal a fireman's coat and even finds that the man who blinded him had just beforehand killed a woman a few blocks away and set fire to her house (said fire was the one the engine company had been responding to when the murder at the firehouse took place). The depicted fire station, Fire Station 53, is a fictitious station. The exterior of the station was represented by Fire Station 1 of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
• In the Monk novel series by Lee Goldberg, Joe Cochran, Natalie Teeger's occasional lover, is an SFFD firefighter, making appearances in the novels Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse, Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, and Mr. Monk in Outer Space.
• The SFFD was featured in two Emergency! television movies in 1978 and 1979, where L.A. County Firefighter/Paramedics Gage and DeSoto run calls with the firefighters of Rescue Squad 2.
• The NBC Television show Trauma followed the fiction lives of SFFD paramedics, EMTs and flight medics.

External links

• San Francisco Fire Department Official Website
• San Francisco Fire Museum
• History of the San Francisco Fire Department at the SF Museum
• SFFD Fire Reserve Website