San Francisco fire trucks are about to get spiffed up for a big birthday party, because that’s what you do when you turn a nice round number like 150.
The Fire Department unveiled its new logo Tuesday, a sparkly, golden shield with images of San Francisco landmarks and a legendary phoenix surrounded by flames that any of San Francisco’s 1,500 firefighters are duty-bound to extinguish. “We’re very excited, and we want the public to come out and celebrate with us,” Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said as she showed off the logo at a ceremony at Station 35 in the shadow of the Bay Bridge. The logo had already been fastened to the deckhouse of the fireboat Phoenix, which was bobbing a few feet away at its berth on San Francisco Bay. ... The chief said she had already ponied up $150 to buy an official SFFD badge with the new logo on it — and she urged her fellow firefighters to do the same. The cost of the badges comes out of a firefighter’s pocket. So far, only 250 firefighters — about 1 in 6 — have ordered one. It’s not required, as the department will go back to its old badges when the celebration is over.
Some firefighters, who asked not to be identified, said they would take a pass on the new badges because they were still sore at Fire Department brass for refusing to allow them to wear commemorative Super Bowl firefighter badges last month. The department had ruled that the Super Bowl badges were commercial and could confuse the public.