San Francisco has rebuilt herself seven times after fire lay her in ruin. During the Gold Rush, the town was devastated by six great fires, each of which almost wiped it out of existence!
 Until 1866, the retrievers of valuable property and saviors of those caught in the midst of smoke and flame were a hardy band of volunteers-men who, arm-in-arm, hand-pulled wagons full of water up the hills to the rising flames lighting beam and canvas, and became Heroes for a makeshift community. Racing to blazes in early San Francisco, firemen cleared the streets ahead with ringing bells and clattering noise makers. Their acts of courage were the stuff of legend! Their brawn and bravado set many a woman to swoon, while at least one made a career out of chasing the engines as they sped toward the flame.
 San Francisco's trials by fire inspired inventions by Fire Department Maintenance Shop Supervisors. Use of the Hayes Aerial Ladder (1868) and the Gorter Nozzle (1886) spread to fire departments throughout the world.
By 1906, San Francisco had grown into a city that was the pride of a nation - Crown Jewel of the Pacific! Her port called all cultures and trade, in her financial center beat the heart of Western commerce. Her people felt cultured and proud and showed off their fortunes in tastes of Queen Victoria and gold leaf.
 At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906, the greatest natural catastrophe in the history of the United States shook San Francisco to its knees. The fire that ensued wiped most human artifact from her face. But San Francisco's symbol is that of a Phoenix which rises from the ashes always to be reborn. Without water to extinguish the flames, (water mains were broken), her firefighters wedged wagons pulled by trusty steeds throughout a city of rubble and fought the flames with ax and dynamite. For three days they battled the blaze and delivered the living to safety. Refugees of the Golden City gazed from the hilltops in disbelief as the fire quelled in the hands of their consummate heroes.
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