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Crosscurrents

Fighting the Mission Bay blaze

Two days ago, the San Francisco skyline was covered in thick black smoke. It came from a fire that tore through a construction site in the Mission Bay neighborhood. 

Tuesday’s five alarm fire was the biggest the city has seen since 2012. Ultimately, 150 firefighters responded, with almost 50 vehicles, and they used a lot of water. 

KALW’s Ben Trefny spoke with Mindy Talmidge, the Public Information Officer at the San Francisco Fire Department, to get a sense of how they take on a blaze this big, where the water had to come from, and and how much water it took to fight it.

TALMIDGE: I can tell you it was millions of gallons of water.The low pressure system is our domestic water system. That is our first line of defense when fighting a fire. The high pressure system originates at Twin Peaks Reservoir. With this kind of fire with that much volume, we definitely needed the high pressure system. And it was a life saver! It enabled the crews to get enough water between the fire building and the other buildings that were threatened to cool those down, keep those cool enough so that they wouldn't catch fire.

Click link above to hear full interview

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Crosscurrents San Francisco