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Posted on 05/06/2026 6:46:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain caught fire as it was being disassembled on Wednesday morning, sending plumes of smoke into the sky as flames licked the sculpture’s 10-ton cantilevered arms. The news comes just a couple of weeks after the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department announced it was preparing to take apart the controversial landmark ahead of a $40 million renovation of the Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park.
“Today, during torch cutting activity, debris inside the tubes ignited,” Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission, which owns the fountain, told SFGATE in an email. “The team responded by continuously spraying water to control and quickly extinguish the fire.”
The process involves using a high-temperature flame and a pure oxygen jet to sever metal. The fire broke out as a crew member was attempting to remove one of the arms of the fountain. There was no major damage, Te said.
“Essentially, the tubes are acting like a chimney,” she explained. “To separate the pieces, the team is torch-cutting the welded steel tubes. As expected, this process produces sparks.”
The disassembly of the fountain will continue as scheduled over the next few weeks, she said. “However, the team will first review options to prevent this from recurring” and “are aligning on an updated plan to eliminate the risk of similar ignition events.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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Do you like Brutalist sculpture?
debris inside the tubes ignited,”
How in the world do set a fountain on fire? Was it a gasoline fountain?
I’ve seen it in person. It’s every bit as ugly and soulless as the picture portrays
Hope it melted.
FUGLY
I haven’t seen that thing in close to 50 years. I always thought it was ugly.
Yuck. That looks like the scrap bin in my machine shop. What ugly garbage.
“How in the world do set a fountain on fire?”
With a high temperature cutting torch.
“Was it a gasoline fountain?”
No.
“Yuck. That looks like the scrap bin in my machine shop. What ugly garbage.”
I generate scrap metal too. At least we know that the guy who comes to pick it up makes some money off of it.
Those water park slide do not look fun.
I’m going with it has been turned off for awhile and filled up with bird (starling/sparrow) nests.
“Do you like Brutalist sculpture?”
I prefer brutalized sculpture in this case.
That was a popular sentiment in San Francisco when it was first built. I have to say I felt the same way when I first saw it. But in a funny way, the thing grows on you. I did come to like it for the way it seems so different from various angles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaillancourt_Fountain I skimmed the Wiki. It is mildly entertaining.
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