The report of Captain Thomas Magner of Engine Co. No. 3 has not been found. Magner was captain of the engine company that attempted to save the Palace Hotel, and, later, was on Nob Hill. One paragraph of his missing report was quoted the master's thesis of Lawrence J. Kennedy at the University of California.

"We then played a stream on the Mark Hopkins Institute and surrounding building until the water supply in that cistern [California and Mason streets] was exhausted. I then put Engine 3 to work on the cistern inside the grounds of the Institute. While working on the Institute we were visited by Mayor Schmitz, who came into the building to encourage us in our good work, and left orders to work our best in trying to save the Institute. Under the direction of Battalion Chief O'Brien, we continued working until the fire surrounded us in a very threatening manner, and to save our apparatus we had to leave there."