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SF firefighters fight fire first, protest second

By Leah Garchik
The San Francisco Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO — Walking on Vallejo near Van Ness on Friday, Lauren Hall spotted a fire in the equipment trailer for workers repairing a water main.

Their extinguisher fizzled out, so Hall ran to Starbucks to call the Fire Department.

But at Vallejo and Polk, where she saw several firefighters picketing — their signs protested closing of neighborhood stations — she told them about the fire.

They dropped their signs, ran to the site and put out the blaze, prompting Hall’s plea: “Keep our neighborhood fire stations open.”

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