San Francisco: Firefighters ‘knew exactly what to do’
When the clock struck 5:04 p.m. Thursday, first responders and community members gathered on the grass of San Francisco’s Marina Green and bowed their heads at the sound of Mayor London Breed ringing a silver bell to commemorate the moment the Loma Prieta earthquake struck 30 years ago.
A massive American flag soared from an outstretched fire engine ladder and choppy winds cut through the whitecanopied ceremony stage — much stronger than the winds did when a 6.9magnitude temblor struck on Oct. 17, 1989, said retired San Francisco Assistant Fire Chief
Frank Blackburn. Breed coaxed Blackburn from his seat in the audience to the podium to share his memories of responding to the deadly quake.
“That day there were no winds,” Blackburn said. “We had had a drill with a portable water system a week before, so we knew exactly what to do.”
Blackburn, who was credited by fire personnel as pioneering San Francisco’s portable system to better battle fires, said he remembered the sight of more than 120 water main breaks in the city’s Marina district soon after the 15second quake.
“It was a proud day for the San Francisco Fire Department and also for the people who came in — the offduty guys,” Blackburn said. “We did the best we could under the circumstances, and it worked out. So here we are today.”
San Francisco Battalion Chief Anita Paratley was in the fire academy at the time and had just been dismissed for the day when the quake struck. She told the crowd she remembered seeing Station 7’s brick building swaying, then realizing her own body was swaying along with it. As a trainee, Paratley assumed she would “work the phones” instead of hitting the streets, but was told by a supervisor, “Get on the rig!”
She slipped into a veteran firefighter’s turnout coat and hopped on an engine. While the engine rolled through South of Market, the piercing aroma of natural gas lingered throughout the neighborhood.
“It was really an eerie feeling,” Paratley said.
When Paratley hopped off the engine in the Marina, she saw several square blocks of leaning homes, buckled garages and a fourstory apartment building at Beach and Divisadero streets that collapsed into the street.
While she worked with other firefighters “and moved hose” to get the department’s portable water system working — because the hydrants in the Marina were only dripping with water instead of flowing — San Francisco firefighter Gerry Shannon crawled through the collapsed building to rescue an injured woman who was trapped in her apartment.
“I didn’t do this rescue, the Fire Department did this rescue. I was a mediocre fireman,” Shannon said in a speech.
Shannon did not detail the rescue on Thursday, but he told The Chronicle about the 2½hour journey to cut a path through the dilapidated building with a chain saw to reach the woman. He was issued the San Francisco Fire Department’s highest honor, the Scannell Medal, and the pair remained close family friends until her death.
On Thursday, Shannon repeatedly credited offduty firefighters who drove into San Francisco to save lives and help the community over the course of several days after the quake.
“What other department in San Francisco can say that?” Shannon asked the crowd. “These guys left their families, they didn’t know what they were going into —which you never do when you respond to an incident. They didn’t get any accolades, they didn’t get any newspaper print. They did it because of the love of the city and love of the job.”
Breed, who was a freshman at Galileo High School when the quake struck, said San Francisco has “come a long way” in seismic safety and quake preparation.