The historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the subsequent three-day fire which claimed more than 3000 lives is marked as one of the most tragic fires in the world's history (Kurzman, 2002). San Francisco with many of the unreinforced brick houses and many more closely spaced wooden dwellings were not prepared for major fires. The quick spread of huge fires which swept away nearly a quarter of the city was majorly attributed to inadequate water supply because of the mains which were broken by the earthquake. Most of the cities in central California were damaged beyond recognition.
While nature caused the first blow of earthquake, the fire tragedy that followed was human-made. Just after the city stopped shaking, the fires started and the known corrupt leadership of the municipality faltered (Mousavi, Bagchi, & Kodur, 2008). The next nightmare stretched in horrible slow motion. Due to an inadequate amount of water to extinguish the fire, dynamite was used to stop the fire from spreading westward. The aftermath of the fire rendered thousands of people homeless. Many businesses were affected as the few ones who survived were temporarily relocated to Oakland. All citizens were requested to cook in the streets so that the victims of the fire could find food to eat.
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According to the findings, it was established that the fire broke out after the water mains which were leading into the city split as a result of the earthquake. When decrepit buildings started to fall in different parts of the city, fires started simultaneously in different sections of the city, and since the fire engines burned most of the water pipes, the city was left at the mercy of the flames (Scawthorn, O’Rourke & Blackburn, 2006). A study by scientists on the fault lines of the earth disclosed that the pipes connected on the peninsula would still have to cross these fault lines and that if another earthquake were to occur, the water mains would be broken again. For this reason, the engineers suggested that there should be sufficient water supply in the city that would be enough to handle any fires which might be started as the previous one. The engineers also recommended that there was a need to build an entire mains system which was independent of the regular water system to help fight fires and that the system should be supplied from a reservoir so that the engines would not have to be pumped in case of an emergency. This was to be called high-pressure water system.
The hydraulic integrity of the system of water distribution is seen in its ability to provide sufficient water which meets all the demands including fire protection. If there were adequate water supply during the San Francisco fire tragedy, many lives would have been saved. If there were enough water supply independent from the regular system, fire companies would use equipment such as Hillsborough and Rollo which could then hook to the cisterns and wells or even harbor and throw a significant amount of water with high pressure to the fire (Kurzman, 2002). One significant component of hydraulic integrity is adequate, efficient pressure and its maintenance. Low pressures generally caused by the failure of valve or pump may lead to insufficient water supply and reduce the rate of fire suppression as well as intrusion of contaminated water. For San Francisco fires, there was a need to provide an independent high-pressure system which would help mitigate the fire without relying on the regular system. It was also essential to have pumping stations. These stations would have electrically driven machines which would pump water into the high-pressure system.
References
Kurzman, D. (2002). Disaster!: the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 . Harper Collins.
Mousavi, S., Bagchi, A., & Kodur, V. K. (2008). Review of post-earthquake fire hazard to building structures. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering , 35 (7), 689-698.
Scawthorn, C., O’Rourke, T. D., & Blackburn, F. T. (2006). The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire—Enduring lessons for fire protection and water supply. Earthquake Spectra , 22 (S2), 135-158.
