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Vintage Firehouses - Engine Company No. 30:
 
Engine Company No. 30

Engine Company No. 30 - 1895
1757 Waller Street (mapped location) 

Neighborhood Haight-Ashbury

Company History:
1895   Engine Co. No. 30 organized and assigned to quarters
1906   Earthquake or Fire damage to the firehouse, $500
1912   Truck Co. No. 12 organized and assigned to quarters
1916   Converted to motorized apparatus
1918   Engine Co. No. 30 disbanded
1918   Chemical Co. No. 5 relocated from 1340 Powell Street
1936   Chemical Co. No. 5 disbanded and changed over to Tank Wagon Co. No. 5
1952   Auxiliary Engine Co. No. 23 organized and assigned to quarters
1956   May 23rd, Truck Co. No. 12 relocated to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street
1956   May 23rd, Tank Wagon Co. No. 5 relocated to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street
1956   May 23rd, Auxiliary Engine Co. No. 23 relocated to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street.  Sold at a City & County of San Francisco public auction

Engine Company No. 30, with an assignment of 27 firemen, occupied this large two-story frame firehouse until 1918.  The upper story has four arched windows with pilasters and a belt cornice of dentil molding.  In 1916 Truck Company No. 12 received a 1915 Schnerr, registry #1, 4 wheel tractor, with a 6 cylinder 80 HP Wisconsin (later the Continental Motor Company) engine, attached to a 1903, previously horse drawn, Kenney city service trailer. The Department purchased five trucks from the Schnerr Truck Company of San Francisco between 1915 and 1916.  Truck Company 12 from 1912 through 1950 had an enormous westerly first alarm district reaching over the entire Sunset district extending to the Pacific Ocean.  Until the 1940's from the Inner Sunset to the Ocean Beach there were vast expanses of sand dunes. Along the beach front there were summer cottages that were mostly used by downtown home owners.  And one of the City's most famous nightclubs, Robert's at the Beach was located at 48th Avenue and Rivera Street.  Truck 12 was the first due truck at this area.  If you find photographs of SFFD apparatus with what looks like snow chains, they were not used for snow, but tire chains used to move the equipment over the west of Twin Peaks sand dunes of the Sunset and Richmond Districts.  The firehouse was closed in 1956 when Truck Company No. 12 and Tank Wagon No. 5 were transferred to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street.  Now privately owned, it is painted in the colorful style of San Francisco's Victorian homes.

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