"Active" was shifted to the Bremerton Navy Yard at Bremerton, Wash., in August 1898 and served there as a harbor tug until she returned to Mare Island in 1899 to commence a long tour of duty. On 18 April 1906, an earthquake nearly demolished the city of San Francisco, and fires raged in its aftermath. Since the city fire department was nearly helpless, the Navy lent a hand. "Active" marines and immediately lay alongside Pier 8, playing out several hose lines to fight the nearest part of the blaze. For the remainder of the week, the crews of "Active", the torpedo boat destroyer "Perry", and the fire tug "Lexlie" fought fires and policed and patrolled the districts in which they labored. "Active" later assisted in saving the Pacific Mail dock and that general section of the San Francisco waterfront. On 21 April, "Active" steamed to Mare Island to bring back relief firefighters from the crews of the cruisers "Chicago" and "Marblehead".