On April 18, 1906, a catastrophic earthquake struck San Francisco, but it was the ensuing three-day firestorm that leveled the city. As municipal water mains snapped underground, firefighters found hydrants completely dry. Faced with infernos consuming entire city blocks, desperate residents and vintners improvised using an unlikely resource.
In North Beach and Telegraph Hill, local residents fought to save their homes and local wineries. Finding no water, they breached massive barrels of red wine stored in neighborhood cellars. Men, women, and children formed bucket brigades, carrying sloshing pails of wine to throw directly onto scorching wooden walls.
In other instances, burlap sacks and heavy wool blankets were soaked in barrels of zinfandel and claret, then draped over rooftops to insulate buildings against radiant heat. At the Italian-Swiss Colony warehouse on Battery Street, employees used hand pumps to spray nearly 2 million gallons of wine over the structure, successfully saving the facility and adjacent properties. Meanwhile, nearby commercial wineries sacrificed tens of thousands of gallons of port and sherry to extinguish advancing embers.
While strong spirits are flammable, standard table wines possess an alcohol content of only 12 to 14 percent, meaning the remaining 86 percent water content makes them surprisingly effective fire suppressants when applied generously. This surreal, wine-soaked defense saved key pockets of historic San Francisco, leaving streets literally running red with vintage alcohol while the surrounding metropolis burned.