By Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Copyright 2006 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved
As events go, it was picture perfect — Mayor Gavin Newsom and other San Francisco officials, firefighters and brand spanking new emergency equipment all together at a drill out on Treasure Island intended to show how prepared the city is to deal with a disaster.
The event, held on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, got a big media bounce. But what no one talked about was the little problem the Fire Department is having back on the mainland with some of the trucks that deal with regular old fires.
Ten engines that the SFFD bought in the past year for $351,000 apiece turn out to be spending almost as much time in the shop as in the firehouse, department critics say. Problems with the new American LaFrance triple-combination pumpers include door handles and passenger windows that break, faulty water pressure relief pipes that flood electrical systems and sirens that won't turn off.
In one case, a firefighter had to resort to bolt cutters to shut down the siren.
The biggest concern, however, is with the new engines' primer motors — used to start the pumps that pull water out of the bay when city hydrants are down or out of water.
The pumps have been shorting out. Six primer motors have been retooled so far, and four more are awaiting parts.
Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said the problems are typical of those in any new engine.
"The difference here," Talmadge said, "is that we bought 10 of them at once, so there's just a lot more little problems to be worked out."
Firefighters union chief John Hanley, however, said the department is glossing over the problems.
"First of all, they are not all fixed and back in the field," he said. "They come out of the shop one day and go back in the next day. It's something the department needs to investigate."
The joke going around the station houses is that if the Big One hits, the safest place to be is at the city service garage.
Because that's where all the rescue equipment is.
