In 1906, San Francisco’s Fire Chief was Dennis Sullivan. An innovative man, he believed that the city did not have adequate resources to put out a large fire. In the months preceding the earthquake, he came up with a plan to build a gravity-fed reservoir tank, salt water pumping stations and fireboats to feed a new system of cisterns and high-pressure hydrants.
Unfortunately his warnings went unheeded. On the morning of 18 April, he was due to testify before a federal judge in an attempt to force the city to adopt the plan. But before the meeting could take place, disaster struck.
