A planned auction of San Francisco’s fire hydrant equipment is now on hold over fears the sale of the unused pipe fittings and other equipment could put the city at risk. Mark Matthews reports.
A planned auction of San Francisco's fire hydrant equipment is now on hold over fears the sale of the unused pipe fittings and other equipment could put the city at risk.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin is calling for a public hearing on April 8 to discuss the matter and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in response has agreed to postpone the auction.
"I've got a lot of questions and I want to get to the bottom of it," Peskin said. "And if necessary pass laws that require the city to hang onto these materials."
The city's high-pressure fire hydrant system was designed after the 1906 earthquake and fire. The SFPUC had planned to sell off a lot of spare parts for the system because the unused equipment has sat around for 30 years.
In addition, the SFPUC said an expansion of the high-pressure system is no longer needed.
"They're costing us more money to keep and we could take that money and put it back in the system to create value," said David Briggs with the Public Utilities Commission.
The SFPUC admits there is not much of a market for the spare parts. The unused parts were to go on auction with the expectation they would bring back pennies on the dollar.
Local
The April 8 hearing will be held at San Francisco City Hall.
