Dec. 23—Firefighters strung fire boats with lights, took spectacular drone footage and had snow hauled in from the Sierras for the city's annual fire station decoration contest.
But it was Station 39, a charming neighborhood fire house at 1091 Portola Dr., that took the top prize — turning the historic station at the foot of Mt. Davidson into a light-covered wonderland.
The contest originally ran from 1948 to 1950, and was extremely popular, but ended bitterly after San Franciscans voted down a firefighter cost-of-living raise. It was revived in 2020, after a Chronicle article documented the original contest and suggested a return.
Honorable mentions included Station 13 in the Financial District, Station 38 in Pacific Heights and Station 35 — the floating fireboat station along the Embarcadero.
Sponsors included San Francisco Fire Credit Union employees, Los Bomberos Employee Group and Code 3 Transportation.
The winners split $3,000 in money going to charities of their choice.
Fire stations will remain lit at least until December 31.
"This year's station holiday decoration competition was absolutely amazing," said San Francisco Fire Department Chief Jeanine Nicholson. "Your San Francisco firefighters, paramedics and EMTs did an amazing job engaging with not only each other, but the communities that they serve."
Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle's pop culture critic. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @PeterHartlaub
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