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Fire stations of the world: San Francisco's newest fire station floats into place at Pier 22 ½, US
Early Thursday morning, 3 December 2020, a world first-of-its-kind floating firehouse sailed across San Francisco Bay in the US to its new permanent home at Pier 22 1/2 forming part of the San Francisco Fire Department's (SFFPD) preparedness efforts for earthquakes and other disasters. The new Fireboat Station 35 is a two-storey, 14 900-square-foot facility and is solar-powered with the ability to operate during a citywide blackout. It is built on top of a steel float and anchored by six guide piles, which will allow it to rise and fall with the tide and projected up to six feet of Sea Level Rise. It is situated adjacent to the existing historic fire station and will be connected by vehicular and pedestrian ramps. The new Fireboat Station 35 will house the San Francisco Fire Department's three fireboats and rescue watercraft, replacing the 105-year-old fire station on the Embarcadero, according to the city's public works department. Personnel will be able to readily observe incidents on the bay from the living quarters. Department spokesperson Lt Jonathan Baxter said that everyone is "excited" to the station in service and in the event of a waterside emergency, "It’s a lot easier to move a floating fire station." He also explained that the existing pier the SFFPD uses to board their fire fighting boat, the Saint Francis, makes things awkward depending on where the tide is. "With our current station, when we get a call, if it’s a low tide we have to use specific ladders to get down to the vessel and if it’s a high tide we have to go upwards to get on to the vessel," Baxter said. "So this time when we have our floating station, it’s going to be equal to the floating station at all times."
In a statement, San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson said that disasters like the May inferno at Pier 45 highlight the need for better water-borne fire fighting equipment. "The project will provide new and upgraded infrastructure and facilities for emergency equipment and personnel that’s needed to optimise the critical work performed as first responders," Chief Nicholson said. The $39,9 million new station was funded by the second phase of the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response bond, which SF voters approved in 2014. The existing, 105-year-old Fire Station 35, is undersized for current needs and does not meet seismic safety standards. It will continue to be home to one fire engine and some equipment. "This is a project that all San Franciscans certainly can take pride in," Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried said in a statement. "The ingenuity of the design takes into account the needs of the Fire Department and the realities of the changing climate to better serve a 21st-Century urban environment and sea level rise." Fire Station 35, built in 1915 and located next to the floating station, is "vastly undersized" and unable to meet the needs of the department. It also does not hold up to current seismic safety standards, according to public works. The building will continue to house equipment and a fire engine. The new, unique floating Fire Station 35 is set to open to fire fighters in the spring of 2021. Sources: San Francisco Fire Department, San Francisco Chronicle |
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