San Francisco fire 1906

The burning of San Francisco, April 18, 1906, view from St. Francis Hotel.
As damaging as the earthquake and its aftershocks were, the fires that... more

by Joe Vella

Title

San Francisco fire 1906

Artist

Joe Vella

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The burning of San Francisco, April 18, 1906, view from St. Francis Hotel.
As damaging as the earthquake and its aftershocks were, the fires that burned out of control afterward were even more destructive. It has been estimated that up to 90% of the total destruction was the result of the subsequent fires. Within three days, over 30 fires, caused by ruptured gas mains, destroyed approximately 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks. One of the largest of these fires was accidentally started in a house on Hayes Street by a woman making breakfast for her family. This came to be known as the "Ham and Eggs Fire". Some were started when San Francisco Fire Department firefighters, untrained in the use of dynamite, attempted to demolish buildings to create firebreaks. The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire. The city's fire chief, Dennis T. Sullivan, who would have been responsible for coordinating firefighting efforts, had died from injuries sustained in the initial quake. In total, the fires burned for four days and nights.
Due to a widespread practice by insurers to indemnify San Francisco properties from fire, but not earthquake damage, most of the destruction in the city was blamed on the fires. Some property owners deliberately set fire to damaged properties, to claim them on their insurance. Capt. Leonard D. Wildman of the U.S. Army Signal Corps reported that he "was stopped by a fireman who told me that people in that neighborhood were firing their houses...they were told that they would not get their insurance on buildings damaged by the earthquake unless they were damaged by fire".

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August 26th, 2020