Academy of Art University students unveil new mural to honor SF Fire Department

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A 13-foot high mural is now on display at San Francisco Fire headquarters.

On Friday, a special ceremony was held to unveil the mural created by a group of Academy of Art University students.

The floor-to-ceiling painting pays tribute to San Francisco's emergency medical services, showing a fire truck, the Golden Gate Bridge and helping hands in rich colors and detailed imagery.

The art students' instructor, David Burke, said the mural was a semester-long project to, not only give the students the experience of making the mural itself, but also teach them how to work with a client.

The mural was designed by student Zoe Arnold.

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"The main thing that stuck out to me when creating this was hands that help. I wanted to portray the helping hands that are in this community. You know, the EMS workers are here to help the city of San Francisco, and it's like a back and forth process. They help us. We help them. And I wanted to make sure that they felt appreciated when looking at this work," Arnold said.

The mural was funded in part by SFFD members and their affinity groups, like the Black Firefighters Association, UFSW, Local 798, the EMS Officers Association and others. Their collective goal was to honor the legacy of emergency medical responders in San Francisco.

Arnold and a team of three other student artists went through several rounds of proposals and revisions before her final design was selected and they got to work painting it. The work took several months.

The mural also comes just in time for EMS Week starting the week of May 19, as a national observance to recognize the work of EMTs and paramedics.