. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. nd pipes connecting withthe bay, has been made manifest by the fire; andsuch reservoirs and pipes, if constructed with evenordinary care, would not be subject to injury by anysuch earthquake as that of last April. It is perfectly A STUDY OF THE FIRE 233 practicable, therefore—in fact, not at all difficult—to protect San Francisco completely against the lossof its water supply by earthquake. In passing to the consideration of the effectof the fire on the various build
. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. nd pipes connecting withthe bay, has been made manifest by the fire; andsuch reservoirs and pipes, if constructed with evenordinary care, would not be subject to injury by anysuch earthquake as that of last April. It is perfectly A STUDY OF THE FIRE 233 practicable, therefore—in fact, not at all difficult—to protect San Francisco completely against the lossof its water supply by earthquake. In passing to the consideration of the effectof the fire on the various buildings of the city, itis interesting first of all to note the evidences of thefierceness of the flames. In many places the basaltblocks of street pavements were cracked and splitby the heat of the fire; in some the very rails of thecar-tracks are twisted out of shape. The granitecoping around the City Hall lawns was scaled off,although there was no fire within a hundred feet;the paint on the Ferry Building and its tower wasblistered by fires at least twice as far away. Inshops and kitchen closets piles of crockery plates. Interior of Emporium Photo by Waters J34 A STUDY OF THE FIRE were fused together; glassware flowed into newshapes. The contents of many supposedly fire-proof safes burned, wall vaults v/ent to pieces,and even heavy safes could not withstand the heatof piles of fallen brick. The contents of buried safesburst into flames when opened, even several weeksafter the fire. Safes in buildings that did not col-lapse fared much better; the various banks safe de-posit vaults, too, were unharmed. It is a curiousfact that the only combustible left unburned was thefuel oil stored in tanks under the sidewalks in va-rious places in the burned district. In the whole burned district there were scarcehalf a dozen places which escaped destruction. Ithas already been narrated how the fire was turnedaside from the Mint, the Postoffice and the Ap-praisers Building and how parts of
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