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San Francisco Is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires

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It might be highly unusual for a supposed "competitor" to review the work of a contemporary, but seeing that only one person on Amazon has bothered to review Dennis Smith's compelling new book, "San Francisco Burning," I thought it incumbent to offer praise where it is richly deserved. For that past three decades -- ever since the first defintive text, Thomas/Witt's "The San Francisco Earthquake" and Gladys Hansen's unparalleled "Denial of Disaster" first appeared -- every writer on the subject of the great earthquake and fire has claimed to have the "untold" story and discovered some "breakthrough" evidence. It hasn't happened. But what Dennis Smith has achieved here is remarkable for its insight and observation. More than any other book, perhaps, Smith has identified the true heroes and villains of the 1906 earthquake. There were actually two disasters: nature's earthquake and humankind's raging inferno. Smith, a former N.Y. firefighter who wrote the marvelous "Report from Ground Zero", takes a street-level, in-the-trenches view of what occured. He adroitly argues that the true hero was Lt. Frederick Freeman of the U.S. Navy, who led a hundred sailors on Navy Tugboats in a desperate, three day struggle to save the waterfront and the trains station, the two locations which evacuated 300,000 people in just 72 hours. Smith puts the final dagger into the two former sacred cows of the disaster: the monstrously corrupt and incompetent Mayor Eugene Schmitz, and the almost pathologically intractable Brig. General Frederic Funston. While the Navy devoted itself to aiding the fire fight, Mayor Schmitz thought it more important to protect property -- property about to burn -- and issued a "Shoot To Kill" order to thousands of soldiers, National Guardsmen, and "Special Police" who were merely vigilantes. Schmitz and Funston's idea of protecting order and property was to shoot scores of citizens "suspected" of commiting any kind of crime, including several people carrying their own goods or attempting to aid the wounded, and using dynamite to try to blast fire breaks on wood frame buildings. The blasting -- 90% of which, according to Smith, was done with highly flammable granulated dynamite, black powder and gun cotton -- started hundreds of fires and destroyed sections of the city that would have likely escaped the conflagration. Smith's book is not perfect: the main criticism is that when he gets a full head of steam and is building marvelous dramatic momentum, he stops to give us history and biography lessons. This is especially glaring when, during a powerful dissertation on the events of Wed., April 18, he jumps ahead to tell us what happens to city officials much later, deflating his own momentum. Re-engaging that level of drama is not easy. Some wise editing could have made this book shine even more brightly. But Smith's powerful and fearless analysis, that the Navy achieved brilliantly and the Army -- in the issues that mattered most -- failed miserably, lends testimony to the inviolable concept that one man, one leader, can make a difference. And in his greatest analysis, Smith perceives what others of us have long shared: that it was the brilliant, visionary fire chief, Dennis Sullivan, the man who had fought the thieves at City Hall to spend money on fire prevention, the man who had a plan that might have saved many lives and much property, the man whose loss was the most catastrophic event after the earthquake itself. Sullivan would never have let fools spread the fire with the improper use of dynamite. Dennis Sullivan, a hydraulic engineer, would have concentrated on tapping every avaialbe source of water, and directing citizens, soldiers, sailors and marines into combatting the fire, with law & order left in the hands of police. Anyone who has ever vigorously studied Dennis Sullivan realizes that he, more than anyone, was prepared for that moment. Bravo, Dennis Smith: your book is the best written in the last 15 years on this subject, and your conclusions and scholarship are superb. You have joined a very small, select group who truly understands what happened in that awful week in April of 1906. James Dalessandro, author, 1906: A Novel.

For the historically inclined, Smith manages to wonderfully recreate a San Francisco that he and we have never experienced. But through extensive research and adroit storytelling, he makes San Francisco of 1906 come alive. You can feel the chaos and terror induced by the earthquake and subsequent fires.

But the sheer vitality of the city's inhabitants shines through. Something to well remember when [not if] there is the next quake.

I just posted a review of Simon Winchester's "Crack In The Earth", which took me weeks to plow through, and came here to offer my comments on Dennis Smith's book. This is the vastly superior effort, one that really focuses on the disaster, one that has the courage to rip into the men who contributed to the horrors of 1906 -- Mayor Eugene Schmitz and General Frederick Funson -- whose efforts hastened the city's demise and caused sections that might have survived to be burned. I have always been a fan of Dennis Smith's: his "Report From Ground Zero" is as engaging and harrowing as any thriller. Smith actually manages to do the impossible: he brings up events and elements of this story that no one else has. He focuses on how the United States Navy actually stopped the fire in many places, only to have the Army start the fire again with the monstrously inept use of granulated dynamite. Smith even points to a warehouse where millions of gallons of wine were stored, and pumping equipment to move the wine was available, across the street from one of the most destructive fires in the tenement section of San Francisco. This may well be the last book on the subject, every one of which I have read. I plowed through this one in two sittings, staying up into the wee hours to find out what happened next. It was a joy after the tedium of "Crack In the Earth." I just wanted to say "thanks" for closing the book on earthquake books with a "bang."

I love San Francisco and I am fascinated by historical accounts of great events. When I found this book, I grabbed it without doing any reviews on Amazon (happily, your reviews are dead on). I am not a "fire fighter junkie" but admit to an attraction to this life and death occupation. Also, one of my college profesors did his Phd. thesis on the NYC fire department so I understand the author's passion for the subject.

I was fascinated to learn that the earthquake did much less damage than the fires. That's something that most people I know never knew (and I have a lot of San Francisco friends). The role the army played (to quote a famous mayor) in "preserving disorder" was a mixture of frustration and anger. I also was shocked that there were so many "mercy" killings (talk about an oxymoron) and killings of people accused of looting. I wasn't very surprised by the reports of political corruption but maybe that's due to having been raised in Hudson County, NJ?

But one of the most uplifting parts of the book was the way the average man and woman in the street pitched in and made a supreme effort to save lives and property in the face of adversity and out and out obstruction by the army. These folks displayed the best attributes of what makes America great.

Naturally,the fire fighters get a very favorable review and based on the facts, justifiably so. I admire their work but I know I am not brave enough to do their job - that's maybe the highest praise I can offer.

In the final chapters Mr. Smith paints a dark picture of our current level of preparedness for the next big earthquake and fire. I fear he is understating the problem (the people in New Orleans know that being prepared is vital).

This is a great read - not just for history buffs only.

This book had the misfortune of being published soon after Simon Winchester's "A Crack in the Edge of the World." Despite its many considerable shortcomings (described by other reviewers both here and on the "Crack" page), Winchester's work has garnered considerably more attention. To date, there have been 5 reader reviews for "Burning" versus 30 (many of them uncomplimentary) for "Crack."

That's unfortunate. "San Francisco is Burning" is a much more accessible, engaging and compelling read. It tells the story I thought I was going to get in "Crack," and does so in a powerfully arresting way.

Author Dennis Smith focuses adroitly on the human dimension, the decisions of individuals before, during and after the earthquake that shaped the events that unfolded in the fateful hours and days that followed. The early loss of Fire Department Chief Dennis Sullivan, Smith writes, deprived San Francisco of an experienced leader well schooled in fire control and crisis management. Sullivan's presence might well have prevented, or at least mitigated the impact of, some of the disastrous decisions made by less experienced leaders, particularly Mayor Schmitz and Army General Funston. (Funny, Winchester portrays Schmitz and Funston in a generally favorable light and does not hold them to account for several strategic and tactical blunders, including poorly executed dynamiting of property, which started new fires and exacerbated the conflagration.)

There will undoubtedly be a lot more attention focused on the Great San Francisco Earthquake with the 100th anniversary coming up in April. There may well be more books on the horizon. For time-pressed readers looking to gain insight into this historical event, I would strongly recommend "San Francisco is Burning."

Dennis Smith, a former New York City firefighter, has written a great book about the 1906 earthquake and fire that devastated San Francisco. Three thousand people died, 28,000 buildings were destroyed, 200,000 people were dislocated. Warnings about the water system were ignored. The decisions by the emergency leadership resulted in more destruction, the martial law led to senseless deaths and the demoralization of an already devastated population. The San Francisco fire was the greatest metropolitan fire in history outside of war (p.3). The author places this event in the context of those times.

San Francisco was then the largest city in the West, and the center of finance, culture, and corruption. The big houses of the super-rich flaunted their conspicuous consumption. The discovery of gold in 1849 caused a great increase in the population (p.30). Growth in San Francisco demanded a reliable municipal water supply (p.35). But the Sierra Club protested this, and aided the private water monopoly (p.36). Most of the houses were built of wood and closely spaced; an inadequate water supply could not handle a major fire (pp.46-47). The earthquake liquified sandy soil and houses sank into the earth (p.53)! Houses collapsed from poor construction, shoddy workmanship, and inferior building materials (p.59). Candles and heating caused fires; a broken chimney let fires into attics. The author states that the 52 fires reported after the earthquake were contained. It was the bad decisions by the leaders that doomed San Francisco (pp.66-67). Chapter 25 explains earth sciences; read it. The final truth about the military's role in making this disaster is in Chapter 30. General Frederick Funston took command of the emergency without having the authority to do so (p.89). The command's orders led to widespread fires and destruction (pp.92-93). Neither the mayor or the general could order martial law (p.96).

The earthquake destroyed the fire hydrant system. Emergency cisterns were not filled (p.123). There was a lack of proper fire-fighting action (p.146). The troops were not used in fire-fighting. The shooting of "looters" was officially sanctioned murder soon covered-up (p.157). Chapter 55 tells how buildings were saved in spite of the military. The policy of dynamiting houses caused more fires (Chapter 56). Chapter 57 tells of the actions by the troops. Many federal buildings did not burn because the army could not order them evacuated and their employees defeated the fire (p.186). General Funston ordered army tugboats to stop providing water for the fire-fighters (p.204)! Refugees were fed from the supplies in the rail yards (p.206). Residents saved their homes from the fire until forced out by soldiers (Chapter 76). The Globe Mills, with wheat and flour, was left to burn by the army (p.224)! Chapter 83 tells of the cover-up that began after the fires ended. All sorts of information was collected, then made to disappear (p.234). General Funston's forced evacuation of the city prevented people from fighting the fires. Was this policy designed to destroy the city in order to benefit commercial rivals?

The debris from the destruction was dumped into the bay, creating new lands that were most dangerous in any future earthquake (p.238). Six insurance companies paid their debts, others made partial payments or went bankrupt (p.238). One lesson was that the city could only protect itself by owning its water supply. Indictments were later obtained against Ruef and others. When the trial led to Big Business, the crusade soon ended (pp.248-249). [For a more complete account of Rudolph Spreckels at the trial read Adela Rogers St. John's "Final Verdict" chapters 41-43. Spreckels the Reformer admitted to payoffs!]

Today San Francisco has fewer fire fighters and a greater population, underground trains and high-rise buildings. A similar earthquake could do greater damage. The politicians had downsized fire departments, damaging these traditionally well managed and efficient units. There is no monument to the firefighters of 1906 (pp.275-276).

Just yesterday San Francisco commemorated the 100th anniversary of the great 1906 earthquake and after all of these years controversy still swirls around the actions of the city's leaders before, during and after the quake. Because of the very nature and layout of San Francisco fire was the great natural villain of this story and therefore former firefighter Dennis Smith is uniquely qualified to tell this story. It is a story however that not only deals with a giant earthquake and the resulting fires, but also a story of corrupt politicians, greedy businessmen and overzealous and inept leadership on the part of the army.

The quake itself is by no means the beginning of the story and Smith goes back to the very beginnings of San Francisco in order to convey the story in it's entirety. He points out in detail the corruption that led in great part to the lack of water available to fight the fires and that lack of water is what doomed the city to it's fate. After the quake struck the mayor did his best to handle the situation knowing full well that he was in great part responsible for many of the problems facing the city's firefighting efforts but most of his decisions turned out to be horribly wrong. Add to this a General who had way overstepped his authority and who also issued what amounted to almost criminal orders to his men and it is a wonder that any of the city survived the catastrophe.

Smith does not dwell on the negatives excessively however and spends a great deal of time telling the stories of the heroes of the day. Given Smith's background it is no wonder that the firemen are roundly praised but it is a highly deserved praise. They along with some brave private citizens and a contingent from the navy were without a doubt the saviors of San Francisco.

Smith tells his story in a very readable and engaging manner and his research is impeccable. The research was a task made all the more difficult by the fact that many of the records of the fire were intentionally destroyed shortly thereafter. He tells the story as it happened without pulling any punches but with a willingness to make sure that all who acted in a heroic way are given just credit. This is an amazing story and Smith does it justice although he does sometimes try to tackle too much subject for the length of the book. This occasional lack of depth does detract from the story a little but overall this book was very nicely done.

Author Dennis Smith is a firefighting historian who here examines the fires which devastated 1906 San Francisco as much as the earthquake. At first one may wonder at the need for yet another 1906 history - but the firefighter focus is special, allowing for a narrowed focus on how the fire spread, the heroism of the San Francisco firemen, and the efforts of ordinary citizens to save the city. San Francisco Is Burning: The Untold Story Of The 1906 Earthquake And Fires thus offers much information not seen elsewhere, and a unique perspective.

Firefighter Smith (FDNY, Ret) is one of my personal heroes and he has not let me down with this book. I now feel I have an intimate and personal connection with the tragedy of 1906. I was unable to put this book down. FF Smith's unique ability to weave the facts among the personal accounts of real people draw you in and grip you with their honesty, bravery and desperation.

This book brings the events surrounding the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the resulting fires really come to life. It was a great read - a thriller in its own right. This author makes it easy to see the events in your mind's eye and brings an updated view of historic events based on new information. Very good!