A five-alarm fire has burned multiple buildings in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood early Tuesday.
The San Francisco Fire Department
tweeted shortly before 7 a.m. about the incident at Folsom St. and 14th St. The fire was upgraded from two to five alarms only 15 minutes later.
SF Firefighters on scene with this morning’s 5th alarm fire. We feel for the businesses lost and employees impacted during this terrible fire. @KPIXtv @kron4news pic.twitter.com/saMhDyUjsA
— San Francisco Firefighters 798 (@SFFFLocal798)
July 28, 2020 Smoke from the fire could be seen all around the city, particularly from the Central Freeway, which runs right by the scene. There are a number of auto repair and light industrial businesses in the area. Power was out in the neighborhood as the fire burned, impacting about 2,200 customers.
The fire did destroy Bartfeld Sales Company, a building supply operation that dates back 73 years.
A body shop and some other businesses were also damaged.
About 160 firefighters responded to the scene, many of which were on top of their rigs spraying water down into the fire. A high-water pressure system was called in to help battle the blaze with a couple of reservoirs in use, including Twin Peaks.
"When I got there we had huge problems with power lines on the Erie Street side," he said. "We actually had transformers falling on the ground. I had to back everybody up, we had to reposition as it was proceeding to get into the third building."
The massive fire continues to burn in #SanFrancisco on 13th and Folsom. The Van Ness on-ramp to southbound 101 has now been shut. 5-alarms. Video:Caltrans. #KCBSTraffic. pic.twitter.com/T9iuEOpJjg
— KCBS Radio - The Traffic Leader (@KCBSAMFMTraffic)
July 28, 2020 Sheriff Paul Miyamoto took the time to acknowledge the work executed by first responders to help put the fire out and keep residents safe.
"Thanks to the efforts of the fire department and the collaboration with the police department and other city agencies, the coordinated effort led to minimal damage to our building, and our resources that we have staged there," he said.
Firefighters said they’ll be on the scene for several days as there’s a concern about hazardous materials amongst the debris. No cause or origin has been determined yet, but detectives were present in case of foul play.
As of 11 a.m., Lt. Baxter told KCBS Radio the fire was 90% contained. An active fire remains visible and crews are stopping forward progress.
Reporting contributed by Tim Ryan.
