San Francisco Marks 100th Anniversary Of Deadly Earthquake

Police and fire sirens wailed early Tuesday morning as San Francisco commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake. The sirens were turned on after a moment of silence honoring those who died in the quake.

As many as six thousand people died, although most estimates place the death toll from the quake and the ensuing fires at 3,000.

Other memorials, a parade and an earthquake conference were among events scheduled during the day.

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanna Hayes-White will help with the annual painting of a fire hydrant known as "The Little Giant."

It was credited with stopping the advance of the fire into the Mission District after the 1906 earthquake.

The quake struck at 3:12 a.m. Central Texas time on April 18, 1906, while much of the city slept.

Experts describe the earthquake as one of the most significant of all time.

Worse than the earthquake, though, were the fires that broke out as gas lines ruptured.

Sparks from adjacent electrical lines ignited the natural gas, igniting fires that burned for three days and destroyed more than half of the city.

Only a massive effort to dynamite buildings along a 20-block stretch of the city’s widest boulevard finally stopped the flames before the fire burned all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

The aftermath of the disaster was well documented both in photographs and in early motion pictures.