A one-of-a-kind fire station to protect San Francisco Bay

Pedestrians walk next to the Pacific Ocean in San Fransisco, a boat labelled 'San Fransisco Fire Department' floats in the water

Located near the Bay Bridge at Pier 22 ½, the original Fire Station 35 was a beloved San Francisco landmark and part of the Port of San Francisco Embarcadero National Register Historic District.

However, the land-based station was making it difficult to reach the water during high or low tide (which typically fluctuates by 6-7 feet), meaning that firefighters had to rely on ladders to access boats in the event of an emergency. The facility also no longer met the public service and water needs of the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD), and the area was due an infrastructure upgrade to ensure the ongoing safety of its waterfront.

Developing a bespoke solution for a unique community

Pier 22 ½ needed a new building to act as a Maritime Disaster Operations Center and house emergency equipment and personnel. Ideally, it all needed to be from the water’s surface, to optimise emergency procedures and future-proof the building in the face of rising sea levels.

Design and construction involved several expert teams, managed by San Francisco Public Works on behalf of SFFD. GHD served as the owner’s engineer and consultant, developing design criteria documents and preliminary designs.

The result is unique: a 16,000-square-foot fire station constructed atop a steel float barge, approximately 173-feet-long by 96-feet-wide. The barge is secured by vertical steel pipe guide piles that allow the building to rise and fall with the sea level, and the float features a stormwater capture system that filters water from the float deck back into the San Francisco Bay.

Magdalena Ryor, San Francisco Public Works project manager for Fireboat Station No. 35, highlights how unusual the new building is: "I don't think there will be another project like this. This is one of a kind," she said. "Building in the water … building on top of a float that moves with the rising tide … it doesn't get any more unique than that."

The project’s large steel components were built at a shipyard in Shanghai, China, and were floated to Pier 1 on Treasure Island where the two-story fire station was constructed. When the tides were right, the project was floated across the Bay and attached to the guide piles at its permanent home on Pier 22 ½.

Keeping San Francisco safer

Craig Lewis, senior project manager for GHD, explains the significance of the floating fire station: “If the Embarcadero is damaged, certain areas of the city may not be accessible from the roadway, so having an essential facility on the water will allow the SFFD to overcome this hurdle,” he says.

The pioneering design means that the structure is not only resilient to seismic activity, but also flooding and rising tides in the Bay – and can remain fully operational in the event of a blackout.

The GHD team is proud to have contributed to such a landmark project that ultimately keeps the busy San Francisco waterfront safer. Thanks to this innovative building, the Embarcadero community – and the inhabitants and tourists of the wider city – can still appreciate the historic former fire station, safe in the knowledge that their newly-optimised first-response team is waiting in the water just moments away.