Although a 2020 City bond measure raised at least $151 million to fund more robust water pipelines in San Francisco’s westside neighborhoods to help put out potentially massive fires after a major earthquake, bad math and inflation are burning through that money, leaving large areas more vulnerable to conflagrations following the “big one.”
Heading into the holiday season after dwelling on ghosts has me thinking about Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” While winter weather is seemingly far away from San Francisco lately, the tale of Ebenezer being visited by three ghosts leading to his transformation and reformation feels ever closer in relation to what our City is facing.
Thanks kindly to your fine paper and reporter Thomas Pendergast for the critically important article detailing the insufficient funds for building our community’s water pipeline system to properly manage westside fire risks.
Money from a 2020 bond measure, sold to voters as financing for expanding an earthquake-resistant pipeline system for westside neighborhoods, may run short for water infrastructure improvements instead after a unilateral decision by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC).
A study on financing the expansion of the Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS) – a separate heavy-duty pipeline system designed to fight a devastating conflagration following a major earthquake – was recently released by city agencies.
If we had a benefit vs. cost analysis performed to expand EFWS projects citywide, the results would be overwhelmingly in favor of spending money now to save the Bay Area’s crown jewel from being destroyed again by earthquake fires.
A plan for expanding the Emergency Firefighting Water Supply (EFWS) system to douse an inferno likely to follow a major earthquake is moving forward, with new pipelines proposed in addition to those already funded.
A proposal to install a seawater pump for fighting fires on the City’s west side after a big earthquake was rejected by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), although they do support building one on the southeast side.
Hydrant Expansion Plan Would Leave the Richmond District and Sea Cliff Without Adequate Water for Fighting Post-Earthquake Fires.
The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) is calling on city leaders to prioritize spending for more hose tender fire trucks. This particular type of fire truck costs $1 million each, and while orders have been placed for a few of them, according to a 2019 Civil Grand Jury (CGJ) report, that will not be nearly enough.
Plans to expand San Francisco’s high-pressure water system for fighting fires immediately after a major earthquake are beginning to take shape. The plans come following a Civil Grand Jury (CGJ) report in 2019 demanded that the City take action.
Good news for San Francisco! The Board of Supervisors has just unanimously approved on Nov. 19, a resolution declaring that a “State of Urgency” exists because there is no plan to protect the entire city from fires following a major earthquake.
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board unanimously adopted Supervisor Gordon Mar’s legislation declaring a State of Urgency to rapidly expand the City’s Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS) to protect all neighborhoods in the event of a major earthquake and fire.
At Friday’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting, Supervisor Gordon Mar’s resolution declaring a State of Urgency to rapidly expand the City’s EFWS to protect all neighborhoods in the event of a major earthquake and fire received unanimous support.
The agenda of the SFPUC is not to provide a system using an inexhaustible supply of seawater, which is the only certain means by which the SFFD will be able to control post-earthquake fires, but rather to use Earthquake Bond money to slowly replace their antiquated and fragile drinking water mains.
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