The AWSS has other clever systems in place, too, that hide in plain sight. Brick cistern marking in San Francisco (square variant) In case of fire, trucks can pull up right up and suck water directly fromВ the cistern to battle the flames. Up close, the access covers can be readily identified, labeled with CISTERN and S.F.F.D (San Francisco Fire Department). Usually, their presence is indicated by a circle of bricks (or in some cases: a square). Their positions across the city make it possible for firefighters to access local water sources should pipes break or roads become impassible. They are made of concrete and steel rebar for strength and durability, designed to resist damage in case of earthquakes.

The cisterns range in capacity from 75,000 to over 200,000 gallons each, able to store a total of over 11,000,000 gallons citywide. Map tiles by Stamen Design (CC BY 3.0) - Map data via OpenStreetMap contributors (CC-BY-SA) Interactive San Francisco cistern map by Scott Kildall. In the aftermath, theВ AWSS (and its cistern system) was developed to put redundancies in place and prevent similarВ failures in the future. Among other issues, water mains broke and firefighters found it hard bring vehicles with water across the cityвЂ™s rubble-filled streets to areas in need. The devastation was made worse by the failure of emergency water systems in the wake of the quake. An estimated 3,000 people were killed and over 80% of the city was destroyed.

In many places, the flames wreaked havoc for days. Following the infamous 1906 earthquake, fires erupted across San Francisco.

Brick rigs water map