The fireman was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.13 after he crashed the fire truck into a motorcycle.
43 year old Michael Quinn made matters worse by running away from the scene of the accident.
Quinn went to a nearby bar and hit the bottle. This time though, it was water he was downing. A surveillance camera near the bar caught Quinn guzzling H2O, presumably to try and flush out the alcohol.
He returned to the fire station several hours later, that’s when the blood alcohol level was recorded.
Not only is that above the legal limit in California, it clearly ignores the zero tolerance policy the department sets.
Five other members of the San Francisco fire department are on the hot seat as well, two of them are assistant chiefs.
Some wondered if any of the fire fighters were trying to cover up for Quinn’s error but the department says that isn’t the case.
San Francisco fire chief Joanne Hayes-White told the San Francisco Examiner "what has been alleged is that it was a cover-up, I don't believe that there was a cover-up that evening, nor did the administrative investigation that we conducted indicate that."
The fireman resigned before he could be disciplined and so far no criminal charges have been filed.
The man on the motorcycle is recovering with a punctured lung.