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San Francisco Fire Displaces Dozens San Francisco Fire Displaces Dozens
(about 3 hours later)
One firefighter was injured and dozens of workers were displaced after a five-alarm fire consumed six commercial buildings in San Francisco on Tuesday morning, the city’s Fire Department said. One firefighter was injured and dozens of workers were displaced after a five-alarm fire engulfed six commercial buildings in San Francisco on Tuesday morning, the city’s Fire Department said.
The fire was first reported at 6:30 a.m. at 13th Street and South Van Ness Avenue, just off Highway 101, in the city’s South of Market, or SoMa, neighborhood, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter of the San Francisco Fire Department. The fire was first reported at 6:30 a.m. at 13th Street and South Van Ness Avenue, just off Highway 101, in a commercial area that straddles the city’s Mission and South of Market, also known as SoMa, neighborhoods, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter of the San Francisco Fire Department.
An auto body shop was among the businesses that were badly damaged, the department said. An auto body shop, a housing materials supply warehouse and the field operations headquarters of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department were among the properties that were damaged, the department said. About 100 workers were forced to flee the flames, and all of them escaped without injury, Lieutenant Baxter said.
The police began ordering people from nearby residential buildings on 14th Street just after 7 a.m. About 100 workers around the buildings were forced to flee the flames, Lieutenant Baxter said. Chief Jeanine Nicholson of the San Francisco Fire Department said that at one point 160 firefighters were at the scene trying to douse the flames.
The injured firefighter was being treated by trauma doctors, Lieutenant Baxter said. No one else was hurt, he said. “Right now, the fire is probably 90 percent contained,” she said at a news conference late Tuesday morning.
The fire covered nearly an entire city block, he told reporters. “This is definitely a difficult fire,” he told KRON-TV. Chief Nicholson said she expected that firefighters would remain at the scene for several days, investigating the cause of the fire and making sure the remaining hot spots were extinguished.
Firefighters had most of the blaze contained by late morning but had yet to determine a cause, he said. “We do not have a cause or origin at this time,” she said.
One of the businesses that was destroyed was Bartfeld Sales Co., a 75-year-old family-run housing supply warehouse on 14th Street that sold materials like foundation bolts and fasteners.
Brian Bartfeld, 47, said his grandfather, Joe, started the business in 1945 and his father, Bruce, expanded it.
The business moved to 14th Street in 1982. Mr. Bartfeld said he was getting ready to go to the warehouse on Tuesday morning when his mother called him at 7:30 a.m. and told him to turn on the news.
Mr. Bartfeld said his father and an employee had arrived at the warehouse about an hour earlier. By that time, he said, the building was already in flames.
“You’re at a loss for words at a time like this,” Mr. Bartfeld said. “It’s devastating.”
“My grandfather started it from nothing and my father expanded it to what it is today,” he said.
Since the fire started, business owners in the commercial district have been calling one another to check in, Mr. Bartfeld said.
“What’s the next step?” he said. “That’s what we have to sit down and figure out. We have no idea.”
The San Francisco sheriff, Paul Miyamoto, said the fast work of firefighters helped workers escape quickly. Bartfeld Sales Co. suffered only “minimal damage,” he said.
Highway 101 was briefly closed so firefighters could dump water on the fire, Lieutenant Baxter said.
The police ordered three people out of nearby residential buildings on 14th Street just after 7 a.m., Lieutenant Baxter said.
The injured firefighter was being treated at San Francisco General Hospital, Lieutenant Baxter said. The firefighter, an assistant deputy chief in his 50s, was stable and “in good spirits,” he said.
No one else was hurt, Lieutenant Baxter said.
The fire covered nearly an entire block, he told reporters. “This is definitely a difficult fire,” he told KRON-TV.
The Red Cross was helping residents and employees displaced by the fire, Lieutenant Baxter said.
“There’s going to be people out of work,” he said. “There are going to be people out of business.”