Monday, April 18, 2016

The Little Fire Hydrant that Could

Today is the 110th anniversary of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

Every year in the anniversary, this fire hydrant on the corner of Church and 20th streets gets a fresh coat of gold paint. This single fire hydrant is credited for saving the Mission District of San Francisco from the devastating fires following the earthquake when all of the other hydrants in the city failed.

The city does a few ceremonies around the city each year to commemorate the anniversary of the earthquake. These ceremonies (including the painting of the fire hydrant) happen around 5:30am (around the time that the earthquake occurred). I'd like to attend one of the ceremonies one day, but so far I haven't manage to wake up early enough to do so.

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