1906: How Fire Destroyed San Francisco
San Francisco City Hall. Photo: UC Berkeley
San Francisco, one day before the 1906 earthquake
View from south of Market Street, looking north to Berkeley. The Call Building (the second-tallest building in the center of the photo) still exists.
April 18, 1906: The post-earthquake fires begin
A fire tornado feeds on itself in the center of Second and Howard Streets. Photo: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
South of Market begins to burn
A wooden building is consumed by fire. San Francisco’s neighborhoods are mainly wood-frame buildings. Photo: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
April 18: The first night
View from Washington Street above Van Ness Avenue, looking downtown. Photo: OpenHistorySF.org
“In the meantime, the city had started on fire. The water mains had broken, and they had no water, and no hoses long enough to draw water from the Bay.
They had only about a mile of hose altogether. They were in a hell of a fix.
The fire started, and nothing could stop it, and it just kept going.”
— Aurelious Alberga (1884–1988), a Black San Franciscan who personally experienced the 1906 earthquake
Aurelious Alberga.
Photo: tanea lunsford lynx
San Francisco’s waterfront on fire
View from the water, looking toward the Ferry Building. The fires destroyed four square miles of the city: from South of Market and north through Chinatown and North Beach, and then west to Van Ness Avenue. Photo: J.P. Magagnos
Watching the city burn
Photo: San Francisco Silent Film Festival
The final stand: Van Ness Avenue
View from above the Ferry Building, looking west. The white area indicates the ash left behind as the fires raced west toward Van Ness Avenue.
The U.S. military is credited with stopping the fires by dynamiting a firebreak along Van Ness Avenue. However, the dynamite initially made the fires even worse. Ultimately, a combination of luck and a massive rainstorm ended up dousing the flames. Photo: The Sunset Beacon
Market Street after the fires
View from Market Street, looking west toward Van Ness Avenue and Twin Peaks. Third Street is on the left, Lotta’s Fountain (at Geary and Kearny) is on the right. Photo: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library