Wooden Ladders

San Francisco is one of a handful of fire departments nationwide that still use wooden ladders. But it is the only one that relies on city workers to handcraft each one.

Like the cable cars or the clam chowder served in sourdough bowls at Fisherman's Wharf, custom building the city's wooden fire ladders is part of San Francisco tradition. It is kept alive out of one part necessity and two parts love.