Loma Prieta Earthquake - October 17th, 1989


drawing © Marc Goldyne
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at 5:04 p.m. local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of the San Andreas Fault System and was named for the nearby Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. With an Mw magnitude of 6.9[10] and a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), the shock was responsible for 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries. The Loma Prieta segment of the San Andreas Fault System had been relatively inactive since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (to the degree that it was designated a seismic gap) until two moderate foreshocks occurred in June 1988 and again in August 1989.
Fireboat Phoenix Statistics:
  • Built 1954, - Alameda, California
  • Plant Monroe Engineering
  • 89 feet long x 19.5 wide
  • Draft 7 feet
  • Displacement 146 tons
  • 2,600 gallons diesel fuel
  • Hose: 3,000 feet of 3" hose in aft hold
    800 feet of 1 3/4" hose in fwd hold
  • 34 hours pump time or 19,584,000 gallons of water
  • 9,600 gallons per minute of water pumped
  • Crew: 1 officer, 1 pilot, 1 engineer, 1 officer, 3 firefighters (from Engine 35)
    Stationed at Pier 22 1/2 (Embarcadero & Harrison St.)

The Firestation for Engine 35 was built for the Pan Pacific Expo in 1915 to show the world that SF had recovered from the 1906 earthquake. It was moved by barge to pier 22 1/2 after the closing of the Expo. The Marina district was built on land fill made for the buildings of the PPE.

Oct. 17, 1989: at approx. 6:20 pm, Phoenix was called to respond to the Marina, but with only three crew available - Pilot Arvid Havneras, Engineer Nate Hardy, and Lt. Bob Banchero. (All of Station 35's firefighting crew had already left for an earlier box call immediately after the earthquake.)

Phoenix pumped continuously with 10 lines working for 15 hours with two pumps wide open - at 6400 GPM (over 5.5 million gallons of water). The fireboat saved the Marina!
by Gerry Long

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