“One of the components that we need is room,” he said. “Our current fire station was built in 1923. It’s almost 100 years old, and we’ve run out of room — apparatus bay, living quarters.”

In addition, Pitzer said $130,000 has been spent on the current fire station in the last five years due to issues with the foundation and sewage backup.

“The condition of the main fire station now is kind of deplorable, so we’re hoping we can move forward to replace the station,” he said.

The fire department is trying to acquire some property in the area around U.S. 224 and Market Street. The current property of the main station — at U.S. 224 and Southern Boulevard — is up for sale.

The Township Trustees plan to reconvene next Friday to select an architect.

The plan is to get firefighters moved into the new station in approximately two years.

Not long after that, a smaller group will show up at 20th and Church streets to spray a coat of gold paint on a hydrant that prevented the spread of the big fire and saved the Mission District.

And at 9, the Fire Department will celebrate its own anniversary with an event in Union Square. The department will be putting its best foot forward — new fire engines, antique fire equipment, a demonstration of an aerial ladder as tall as a six-story building and warnings about the chances for another big disaster.

Flimsy boom town

Fires have always been a menace in San Francisco, a city with a wooden heart. All the famous buildings are steel and concrete, but most of the residents live in wooden houses — in the Mission, in the prized Victorians of the Western Addition, in the stucco-covered homes of the Richmond and the Sunset districts. They’re lined up in rows, from the western hills to the ocean.

During the Gold Rush, San Francisco was a city built entirely of wood and canvas. It was a flimsy boom town if there ever was one. And on Christmas Eve 1849, a tremendous fire broke out. There was no defense, only men carrying buckets of water.

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