To the Honorable the Board of Fire Commissioners of the City and County of San Francisco: .

GENTLEMEN  ; In conformity with custom and a rule of your Honorable Body, I have the honor to present to you this the Ninth Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the San Francisco Paid Fire Department. The report embraces a detailed statement of the condition of the Department at the close of the fiscal year, and the workings of the Department for the fiscal year just closed. In it will be found a complete Roll of the Department, including number of badge, name, position, residence, and occupation of every man attached to the Department proper, a list of the men employed at the Corporation Yard of the Department and their respective position, together with a statement of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, and a detailed statement of the property in possession of the Department, including Engine, Hose-Reel, Hook and Ladder Carriages and appurtenances thereto, Hose Houses and property at the Corporation Yard; also, the number of Hydrants, and a list of the number, location and capacity of cisterns, together with a list of the number and location of Signal Boxes; a statement of the losses by fire during the year, amount of insurance on property damaged or destroyed, and amount of insurance paid; the number of alarms responded to by each Company, number of times in service, and time at work on fires.

In another portion of this report will be found a statement of the quantity, quality, and condition of all the Hose in possession of the Department, and available for fire purposes, and how and where distributed; also, a statement of the quantity of Hose in the possession of private parties, the names of said parties, and where the Hose is kept. In another portion of this report will be found a tabular statement of the number, location, and capacity of Cisterns from which the Department can, in case of need, obtain a supply of water.

HYDRANTS.
The number of Hydrants erected prior to the 30th of June, 1874, was one thousand and seven (1,007) ; during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, the number erected was (66), making a total of one thousand and seventy-three (1,073) now available for the purpose of extinguishing fires.

DEPARTMENT APPARATUS.
The Apparatus of the Department, with the exceptions noted in the several recommendations pertaining thereto embodied in this report, is in very good condition, especially the Engines, which have been thoroughly overhauled and placed in first-class working condition.

DEPARTMENT HOUSES.
The Houses occupied by the Department, with the one exception noted in the recommendations under the head of Houses, are in good condition and comfortably furnished.

HOUSES.
I would recommend that a lot be selected and a house erected thereon, without delay, for the Hose company recently organized by the Board of Supervisors, upon the recommendation of your Honorable Body, for service in the Western Addition. I would again urge upon your Honorable Body the necessity of securing action by the Board of Supervisors in the matter of a new house for Engine Company No. 8. The house now occupied by the company is poorly adapted to the wants of the company, being almost unfit for occupancy in the wet season, and lacking in room and accommodations required to enable the company to be as prompt and efficient as it should be.  A new house should be erected without delay, as no amount of alterations or repairs will make it what an Engine House should be ; and I would recommend that the new house be erected on the Fire Department lot on Pacific street, near Polk, a location which is, in my opinion, more central and convenient for the company than its present station, as it will give the company command over a greater portion of the district and afford security greater to the whole district covered by this company.

WATER SUPPLY.
I would call the attention of your Honorable Body to the fact that the water supply on East street and along the city front is wholly inadequate to the wants of the Department. Larger mains should be substituted for the present mains, as they do not insure a sufficient supply of water for the extinguishment of fires. I consider it absolutely necessary to have a stronger pressure of water than we have at present in this locality, so that hydrant streams will be effective when a fire occurs at a time when the tide is low and difficulty is experienced in obtaining water from the bay by the delay occasioned in getting a sufficient head of steam on the engine to force water.

I would recommend a light-draught fire boat, .with a capacity for throwing from four streams with the same complement of men allowed to an Engine Company. This addition to the Department would afford protection to the shipping, if a fire should occur when the tide was low and the vessels in the immediate vicinity of the wharves could not be reached, as was the case quite recently when the bark Milan was burned off the foot of Second street, and the Department was powerless to prevent the total destruction of the vessel. Again, if the vessels moored at any wharf where a fire might be raging were aground and could not be moved to a place of safety, this boat could be used to very great advantage and assist the Department in preventing the spread of the fire to the shipping. I believe the expense necessary to procure the boat and man her would be but trifling compared with the benefits to be derived from having her in service and ready for action at all times.

I would recommend that Engines 4, 6, 9 and 10 be supplied with heaters for generating steam, so that the Engine can have from twenty-five to thirty pounds of steam on at all times. This will enable them to throw a powerful stream of water on fires occurring in the immediate vicinity of their respective houses and check them in their incipiency. The advantage gained by this improvement will be very great, as the localities in which these companies are situated are occupied to a great extent by mills, foundries, machine shops, etc., all built of inflammable material, which affords excellent opportunities for extensive and destructive conflagrations, and render it necessary to have a full supply of water on the start of a fire, which is not now afforded by the hydrant pressure in the section of the city covered by the companies designated

I would recommend the purchase of a large size Chemical Engine for service in the lower portion of the City, where fires occur frequently in the upper stories of buildings filled with valuable goods, and the danger of damage by water is great, when, as at present, it is necessary to run a line of hose to the upper floors and turn on water, which necessarily causes more or less damage to goods on the lower floors. This Engine could be used to advantage in these cases, and the damage to stock greatly lessened, if not wholly prevented. The force required to man the Engine will be a Foreman, Driver, and two permanent Hosemen.

I would recommend the purchase of a new Truck, latest style, for the use of Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, as the Truck now run by this Company is in poor condition and too heavy for service in the district in which the Company is located. This would, with the new Truck recently ordered for Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, place this arm of the Department in a very efficient condition.

I would recommend the purchase of a four wheeled Hose Carriage (Amoskeag pattern) for the use of the Hose Company recently organized by the Board of Supervisors for service in the Western Addition. This, with the one ordered from the East for Hose Company No. 2, will place this division of the Department in very good condition.

I would recommend the purchase of a Fuel Cart for the Department, to be used for supplying Engines with fuel when at work on fires requiring considerable time to extinguish, as the Engines have carrying capacity for only a small quantity of fuel, and it frequently happens that valuable time is lost in obtaining an additional supply. An ample supply could be kept at the Corporation Yard, from which to draw when occasion requires, if the Department is furnished with a Fuel Cart to be used for hauling it to the Engines at any point they might be at work. I think it should be obtained without delay.

In conclusion, I wish to compliment the officers and members of the Department for their promptness and efficiency at all times during the year. I deem it but justice to them to say that the confidence which is reposed in them by the Board of Underwriters has not been misplaced, as is proven by the record for the past year, the officers and men having proved equal to the emergency upon all occasions when their efficiency w r as tested, and I believe the Department is to-day fully up to the standard and equal to any of its size in the country.

I wish to tender my thanks to the Honorable the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the Fire and Water Committee of the Board of Supervisors, for their cordial support and prompt and cheerful response to all requests made to them to provide for the Department and increase its efficiency, to which hearty co-operation on their part is due in a great measure the success of the Department in staying fires that, without Hose and apparatus in good condition, and the means at hand to use promptly and effectively all the appliances required by the Department, to respond promptly and battle successfully with the enemy when called, would have proved disastrous to the City.

To Chief Cockrill and his Department, for the prompt and cheerful manner in which they have always responded when called upon to assist the Department.

To Fire Marshal Durkee and his assistants, for valuable services rendered promptly and cheerfully on all occasions, which have aided the Department materially.

To Captain White, of the Fire Patrol and his company, for their hearty co-operation with the Department since the date of their entry into active service. I am fully convinced of the great value of this auxiliary to the Department, and in the short time that it has been in service have had ample proof of its efficiency in the field of its operation; a field that will extend steadily and render the organization of incalculable value.

To the Superintendent of the Fire Alarm Telegraph and his assistants, for the promptness and efficiency displayed by them in their Department.

To Mr. Lohse, Assistant Superintendent of the Spring Valley Waterworks, for the prompt and efficient manner in which he has performed his duties in connection with the care and repair to waterpipes and hydrants, which he has kept in excellent condition, thereby enabling the Department to obtain a supply of water without unnecessary delay at all times.

In conclusion, allow me to return my sincere thanks to your Honorable Body, for your able and untiring efforts to maintain discipline and efficiency in the department, and aid me in the discharge of my duties. It shall be my sole aim in the future to prove by watchfulness and untiring zeal that I appreciate fully your efforts in behalf of the Department, and I promise that in the future no effort on my part will be spared to make the Department more efficient, and its work satisfactory to your Honorable Body and citizens of San Francisco, who have expressed their approval of the result of its labor for the past two years.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

DAVID SCANNELL,
Chief Engineer.

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