At the meeting of the Fire Department Committee- of the Board of Supervisors yesterday afternoon the report of Chief D. T. Sullivan was received. It was one of the most sensational documents the committee has yet had offered for its consideration, and it had the indorsement of the Board of Fire Commissioners. Chief Sullivan reviews the big fires m the City from Christmas a year ago, naming the loss in each and laying the blame on the Spring Valley Water Company. In every instance, he maintains, the department was handicapped by the lack of water, the want of pressure and the dearth of hydrants. The chief dwells at length on the fire of June 27, which was BO destructive to property in the district south of Market street, and suggests the laying of larger mains, not only in that portion of the City, but all through the town, from the ferries to the Fairmduot district and from Presidio Heights to the Potrero, including South San Francisco and Ocean View. Th««port is a scathing one on the lack of nreft ghl facilities, and so sweeping was it that the committee gasped for breath ana deferred its consideration for a week. Sullivan's report began with the fire in Francis, Valentine & Co.'s printing office on December 23, 1593. The tire broke out at 11 o'clock in the morning, and three alarms were turned in. The lack of water was noticeable, says the report, when the extra companies responded to the second and third alarms. The loss amounted to $34,000, most of which was due to lack of water. On November 3 a second alarm was turned in from box 68. The fire was in a cocoanut-fiber factory at 36 Bluxome street, between Fourth and Fifth. The supply of water on Brannan and Bluxome streets was very poor. The hydrant near St. Rose's Church only yielded 75 pounds pressure. Ten lire engines were used and the loss was $22,000. On November 4. 1594, three alarms were turned in from box 296, and Goldberg, Bowen it Lebenbaum's store was totally destroyed, including the San Francisco Tress Club. The fire occurred on Sunday, and therefore the pressure should have been stronger. That it was not, however, was evidenced by the weak streams thrown by the engines. The loss at this fire was $i 78,000. . wiMyy On February 20, 1894, three alarms were turned in from box 48, and the Golden Rule Bazar on Market street, west of Kearny, was completely gutted. It was found that there was water enough for six engines, but when the; second and third alarms were turned in, the extra engines took all the water from those which were first on the ground. The loss by this fire was $162,000. On the second alarm the water pressure was only ninety pounds, and by the time the third alarm had been responded to, the pressure had fallen, to sixty pounds. The Chief's report reverts to the losses occassioned by other fires where more than one alarm has been turned in, and then it gets down to tne last disastrous blaze in which $750,000 and 1,000,000 worth of property was lost. la regard to this the report says: Thfs'firestarte*dnh~trie r rear of «rnrlll or box factory on Fifth street, between Bryant and Brannan, in a particularly mflamable district and known to nave a poor water supply lor & lire beyond the ordinary. It proved to be one of the largest tires that the department has handled in years. The lack of water was noticeable from the start, end the department was greatly handicapped for that reason. Engines 4 and 10 responded to the first alarm and both companies went into the water company's- yard on Bryant street, where it is claimed that there are- two yard hydrants. The fire showed speed at that time and was advancing rapidly. Both engines are new and have been in use seven months and are of the first size, very powerful and equipped with threeinch hose capable of standing 250 pounds pressure. No. 4 engine got 130 pounds pressure for ten minutes or so and it then dropped to thirty pounds and did not vary much from that during the fire. No. 10 engine never got any more than that pressure at any time while connected to the hydrant in the yard. ~ It has been conclusively demonstrated that at all tires of any magnitude in any part of the City the water supply and hydrants have been wnoll? inadequate to the requirements. There if not a small street in the City (with one exception) with a hydrant in the middle of the block, where it would be safe to put an engine at a large tire. J Take any part of the City where it would be possible to mass twenty engines in a radius of four blocks and it would simply amount to half of them tuning the water from the other half. A third alarm, using about sixteen engines, hb.s demonstrated that fact time and again.

In conclusion, Chief Sullivan has submitted a list of districts wherein tnere is an inadequate supply of water, and therefore dangerou? in case of tire. In the district south of Market street large fire? are of most frequent occurrence; east of First street are planing mills and foundries; further west are large four to six story buildings, many <.i them built partly or wholly of wood ; on Rincon Hill are many residences now practically unprotected from fire; on King street, near Third, are oil works and gas works, the former already three times burned; on Townsend street are warehouses, and on Brannan, Biuxome and Berry streets, between Fourth and .Sixth, arelarge mills; at Fifth and Bryant are mills also, besides large woodsn stables once already completely destroyed; on Folsom street, between 1 Eleventh and Twelfth, is the Turn Verein Hall, a large frame building in the very heart of the block. At every large fire in this district a scarcity of water has been experienced, proving the entire inefficiency fur tire purposes of the large number of 4 and 6 inch mains in the principal streets. In order to remedy thu a BJftteiH of 8 and 12 inch mains should be adopted, with 16-inch feed mains in Ninth and Brannan streets in addition to those already laid in Howard and Seventh streets. For the purpose of carrying out this plan a lti-mch main should be laid from :i connection with the 37-inch main at Ninth and Harrison streets, along Ninth street to Brannan and alone Brannan to First. Twelve-inch mains should be laid as follows: Mission street, from Beale to East; Folsom, from iSteuart to Twelfth; Bryant, from First to Eleventh; Berry, from Third to Seventh; Fourth, from Ma'rlcet to Channel; Seventh, from Howard to Market; Howard, from Second to East; Harrison, from Third to Spear; King, from Second to Third; Third, from Brannan to Berry; Sixth, from Market to Channel.

Eight-inch mains should be laid as follows: Bast, Mission to Howard; Spear, Market to Mission; Beak, Maiket to Bryant; Bteoart, Mission to Folsom; Main, Market to Bryant* Fremont, Market to Harrison; Second, Brannan to King; ltinve. Harrison to Bryant; Stanford, Brannan t6 Town Mo d: Eighth, Market to ;i; Eleventh, Market to Howard; Twelfth. Mission to Harrison; Crocker, from West Mission to Stevenson, to Brady, to Colton ; Harrison, Ninth to Fourteenth ; Townsend, Fifth to Sixth; Stevenson, Fifth to Seventh; Jessie, First to Anthony. to Mission; Fifth, Folsom to Bryant; Ninth, Howard to Folsom; Eleventh, FolBom to Bryant; West Mission, Twelfth to Thirteenth; Bluxonie, Fourth to Sixth; Kins:, Third to Sixth: Jessie, Second to Fifth. In the district north of Market street the Chief suggests that 12-rnch mains be laid in Market street from East to Powell; in ail streets from and including Broadway *o Oak, east of Gough, and Sansome, from

Broadway to Chestnut, to Montgomery, to Francisco, to Kearny; Dupont, from Montgomery avenue to Bay ; Filbert, from Hyde to Dupont. Eight-inch mains should be laid on streets from East to Hyde, thence to City Hall avenue and up to "Gough and over to Vallejo, and all streets running parallel, thence down to the beach. Eight-inch mains should be laid in plenty in the "Western Addition, it is urged, from Union and Gough streets diagonally out to McAllister and Masonic avenue. Better protection is asked for the Richmond district, Ashbury Heights and all that territory lying in and about the panhandle and stretching out by the side of the park. The shortcomings of the Mission are also held up to the public gaze, and South San Francisco and the Potrero are not overlooked in the necessity for water protection. Through the latter sections the scattering of hydrants and increasing the size of the mains where they will do the most good is strongly advo*cated. For the protection of Fairmount and Sannyside districts an 8-inch main should be laid on Cbenery street, from Kandail to Croton avenues, thence to Circular avenue, to Sunnyside avenue, to Detroit street. Protection is also asked for the Ocean View disirict, and the Chief outlines the increase in the size of mains throughout the district. The committee, after the report was read, laid it over for one week's consideration.
San Francisco Call, Volume 78, Number 40, 10 July 1895 — BIGGER MAINS DEMANDED [ARTICLE]