Just read an article about the San Francisco Fire Dept and SF's use of non-standard-sized hydrant fittings in this article . SF uses 3-inch fittings instead of the typical 2 1/2 inch ones so fire companies responding from outside the city, for example, after a major earthquake, would need adapters.

It's an informative article. Although I was born and raised in SF, I never knew that SF had a special, one-of-a-kind high-pressure hydrant system in parts of the city. Cool! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Or that "our" hydrant fittings don't match anyone else. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

OK, ETSers, who would buy an adapter and keep it in their garage to make sure that any fire engine responding near your home would be able to hook up to the nearest hydrant in the event of a fire at your home? I mean this question mostly in jest, but then again, it does make you think. My parents still live in SF.

This cracks me up:

But San Francisco officials say they have a state-of-the-art system that has worked for them for more than half a century, and they are not interested in changing it.

Um, I'm no fireman, but I'm guessing the state of this particular art has improved a little in the 50 years since this was true.

Just one more reason why I'd never live in San Francisco.

Interesting article - thanks for passing it along!

I wouldn't bother with buying the 3" to 2 1/2" adapter (reducer) because:

a) Nearby mutual-aid fire departments already have them.
b) The city has a supply at their own fire stations to hand out.
c) The State OES region has some, too.
d) Most hydrants are going to have a "pumper" or "steamer" (the 4") outlet in addition to the smaller-diameter 3" hydrant outlets.
e) If a huge disaster leveled most water mains, there are the individual water cisterns to pump water from.

All that being said, it sure would make good operating sense for them to just standardize with the rest of the state and be done with it. But fiscally...

8,000 hydrants x $10,000 cost = $80,000,000 to replace just the 3" hydrants.

San Francisco, like many cities, is having budget woes. Coughing up the extra $80 million would probably cause the voters to drive a lot of the local politicians out of office. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Good points, cedfire.

I'm just thinking about Katrina and NO, where you had difficulty moving around, lack of communications, and assistance arriving from places with no knowledge of your disaster plans. I would expect these conditions to exist after the Big One in San Francisco as well and any plan that relies on outside fire companies knowing and getting to centralized locations to obtain adapters is not likely to work well. The article mentioned the Oakland Hills fire and how outside fire companies rushed straight to fires and found that they couldn't hook up.

Granted, the cistern system is there, too, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here. OK, I'll stop playing fire chief now. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

If the Big One hits San Francisco (spent a few years there as a kid myself, even in a couple of earthquakes) the fire department will probably be forced to use the cisterns anyway.

If I remember correctly, the water mains in 1906 were pretty much rendered useless due to the earthquake. Although we've come along almost 100 years, water systems don't really change that much and are still quite vulnerable to the ground shaking.

As for the high-pressure hydrants downtown, I don't want to be around when one of those puppies breaks loose with 300+ psi behind it. That's liable to kill somebody.

P.S. - If you ever get the chance, be sure to stop by the SFFD museum! Really neat history there... http://www.sffiremuseum.org/

Not worth while for the reasons that cedfire gave. But also, if the big one hits, I'm not sure there will be much to do but watch it burn.

But I don't live in San Fran, so what do I know? My two cents are worth maybe two cents.

Arney, do yourself and your family a favor and get out of California before it is too late. Save the money you would have spent on the hydrant adapter and buy some gas for the car and go.

If anyone is interested, the original news article about the non-standard hydrant fittings seems to have generated some attention. Here's a follow-up article on the SFFD chief's proposal.

Basically, he wants to fabricate an additional 1,000 adapters, and store them at four strategic locations along the freeways leading into San Francisco for distribution to fire crews as they arrive into the city.

Seems slightly less problematic than the current situation where there's a stockpile of extra adapters in ONE warehouse. But still, in a massive disaster like an earthquake, where far flung agencies will dispatch help, there's no guarantee that the freeways will even be passable. And once outside agencies start pouring in through side streets, what then?

Again, I'm not talking about the surrounding jurisdictions where adapters have already been distributed. I'm talking about the chaotic situation after a massive disaster where fire crews from outside the mutual aid agencies start arriving from every which way. If NO is any example, city agencies will have no communications beyond runners for at least a couple days and difficulty just moving about the city. Seems like they're making a big assumption that those four points are where the incoming responders will pass through. Anyways, the saga continues...