Don't Try This At Home
Remember those fire grenades? Guess they weren’t really helpful during the fire. How about dynamite? Out of desperation, dynamite was used to keep the flames from spreading. In an article in Colliers Magazine dated May 5, 1906 
, Jack London wrote:
Wednesday night saw the destruction of the very heart of the city. Dynamite was lavishly used, and many of San Francisco proudest structures were crumbled by man himself into ruins, but there was no withstanding the onrush of the flames. Time and again successful stands were made by the fire-fighters, and every time the flames flanked around on either side or came up from the rear, and turned to defeat the hard-won victory.
Did it work? Find out from San Francisco Fire Department Chief O’Shaughnessy’s Report on the Fire of 1906 .
