Lotta's Fountain is where the disaster is remembered every year on this anniversary and it's where people came on this day 108 years ago to post notices, desperately trying to locate family and friends.
At exactly 5:12 this morning, sirens wailed in downtown San Francisco - the exact time 108 years ago the silence of that morning was broken by the sounds of rumbling, buildings collapsing and people screaming as a 7.8 earthquake hit San Francisco.
The rolling ceremony then moved to 20th and Church - the location of the fire hydrant credited with saving the Mission from all the fires. They gave it its annual fresh coat of gold paint. Organizers say even though they do this every year, it never gets old.
Yesterday, San Francisco painted two fire hydrants silver that were crucial to putting out fires that raged in the city's Western Addition neighborhood following the Great Quake. The newly dubbed "Silver Twin" hydrants, one at the corner of Hayes and Buchanan streets and the other at Ellis Street and Van Ness Avenue, were two of the few hydrants that provided an adequate water supply as firefighters struggled to control blazes that erupted.
Bay City News has contributed to this report
