Neighborhoods
The Marina District after the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco, October 1989.
Photo: Agence France-Presse/Adam Teitelbaum
Unprotected San Francisco Neighborhoods
Map key
Red: Not covered by San Francisco’s AWSS (Auxiliary Water Supply System) firefighting seawater system.
Black: AWSS high-pressure water pipe.
Blue: San Francisco Supervisor district:
1. Richmond District
2. Marina District
3. North Beach
4. Sunset District
5. Haight-Ashbury
6. South Beach
7. Forest Hill, St. Francis Wood, Inner Sunset
8. Noe Valley
9. Mission District, Bernal Heights, Silver Terrace
10. Potrero Hill, Silver Terrace, Hunters Point
11. Ingleside, Crocker-Amazon
The following neighborhoods are not covered by San Francisco’s AWSS (Auxiliary Water Supply System) firefighting seawater system.
AWSS is a high-capacity, high-pressure water network that uses seawater to fight fires. Since 1913, AWSS has covered only the east side of San Francisco.
AWSS is not the same as San Francisco’s drinking-water system, which City Hall refers to as “Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System”. (“Potable” means “safe to drink”.)
Drinking-water systems failed to save San Francisco in 1906, Lahaina in 2023, and Los Angeles in 2025. A drinking-water system is a closed water network that stores and routes water for people to drink. It is not designed to fight massive fires that may feed on each other and last for days or even weeks.
No high-capacity, high-pressure seawater coverage
Bayview Heights
Crocker-Amazon
Excelsior
Ingleside
Little Hollywood
Merced Manor
Mission Terrace
Oceanview
Parkside
Portola
Richmond District, west of 12th Avenue
Sea Cliff
Stonestown
Sunnyside
Sunset District, west of 19th Avenue