Letter from Dick Morton to Jake’s Nature News
Before the City starts adding population to the West Side of SF, they need to expand fire protection system that we have been waiting for. Sprinklers will not do much if the water pressure does not back them up
Jake, I live next to the heavily Blue Gum forested Pine Lake and Stern Grove. For years, I have been concerned that the fire in the forest would send flaming Blue Gum bark strips blowing onto the nearby houses jeopardizing life and public facilities and businesses. Should a fire occur in the Blue Gum forest I have told my neighbors that we need to get up on our roofs to hose down any burning embers. Their potential for conflagration in other neighborhoods such as Glen Canyon, McLaren Park, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio is real.
I chaired the SPUR Disaster Preparedness Task Force where I learned about the firefighting Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS). I am now an advocate to expand AWSS to all of San Francisco, including my Parkside/Sunset neighborhood.
I agree with you, we are “unaccustomed” to thinking in terms of conflagration. You are correct San Francisco is “run by bureaucracies, which, by definition, are unaccustomed to thinking in terms of the unpredictable” – a conflagration. Our bureaucracies, PUC and FireDepartment, continue to demonstrate a lack of urgency and preparedness for devastating fires. You should be greatly concerned by the San Francisco lack of unlimited firefighting water resources.
There have been two Civil Grand Jury reports, two emergency bond measures and numerous other calls to action to expand the Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS), a high pressure, independent firefighting capability utilizing unlimited water supplies – saltwater.
The existing 1913 AWSS is largely confined to the northeast quadrant of the city. That leaves substantial swaths of 15 vulnerable non-AWSS neighborhoods without conflagration fire protection which could arise from a Blue Gum fire, major fires and most importantly, an earthquake.
The emergency bond measures have been largely used to repair and upgrade the existing 1913 AWSS. 15 vulnerable neighborhoods have waited for decades to have the same level of fire fighting protection as AWSS neighborhoods.
The PUC and the Fire Department continue to ignore the necessity to expand AWSS pipes, pumps and support connections to saltwater. Burn baby burn is the operative city response for vulnerable neighborhoods such as most of the Richmond, Sunset, Ingleside, the Portola, Excelsior, Bayview and Hunter’s Point.
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