A major fire broke out on Saturday morning in a warehouse on Pier 45 on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf which came very close to the engulfing the historic World War II Liberty ship, SS Jeremiah O’Brien. The fire was reported at around 4:15 AM and quickly rose to four-alarms. At the height of the fire there were 130 firefighters and 50 apparatus on the scene. 

Shortly after the first firetrucks arrived, the San Francisco Fire Boat #3, St. Francis, also came on the scene. CBS San Francisco quotes fire department spokesman Lt. Jonathan Baxter who said that the fireboat crew saved the historic Liberty ship.

“When firefighters arrived, the flames were literally lapping over the Jeremiah O’Brien,” he said. “They literally saved the O’Brien.”

“The Jeremiah O’Brien has been known as the lucky ship,” said ship captain Cevan Lesieur. “She survived the North Atlantic and D-Day and that’s the first reaction — it’s a miracle!”

Fire crews also prevented the blaze from spreading to the submarine USS Pampanito, which is also docked at the pier.  San Francisco Fireboat #1, Phoenix, was also called into service to help prevent the fire from spreading to other structures.

By 2 p.m., the fire was under control, fire officials said. Streets around the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood were closed off. Initial reports suggest that the damage to the O’Brien was limited to scorched paint.

The SS Jeremiah O’Brien is one of only two remaining fully functional Liberty ships of the 2,710 built and launched during World War II. 

The SS Jeremiah O’Brien was built in just 56 days at the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in South Portland, Maine and launched on 19 June 1943. She made four round-trip convoy crossings of the Atlantic and was part of the Operation Neptune invasion fleet armada on D-Day. She was then sent to the Pacific and saw 16 months of service in both the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean calling at ports in Chile, Peru, New Guinea, the Philippines, India, China, and Australia.

St.Francis to the rescue! No way we could of been as successful as we were this morning without our fireboat the St. Francis. A dedicated marine response is essential to a City surround on 3 sides by water. @AaronPeskin @LondonBreed @sfbos #yoursffd pic.twitter.com/LG9xwdTfuZ

— San Francisco Firefighters 798 (@SFFFLocal798) May 24, 2020

Thanks to Bob McKane for contributing to this post.