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In 2016 San Francisco, California started to operate new fireboat, initially called simply Fireboat 3, but was renamed the St. Francis, on October 17, 2016. She was given the official name on October 17, 2016, the anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Local schoolchildren helped pick the vessel's name.
Most of the vessel's $11.8 million construction cost was paid for from a port security grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Senator Dianne Feinstein attended the vessel's christening. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Feinstein was largely responsible for securing $8 million in federal funds to pay for the vessel. Feinstein reflected on how, during her time as San Francisco's mayor, some fiscal conservatives wanted to retire the city's last fireboat, and how that vessel proved its worth during the Loma Prieta earthquake, when she was able to pump water to substitute for fire mains broken during the quake.