San Francisco Police on Friday apprehended a nude man armed with a knife who fled a home in the Castro neighborhood shortly before it caught fire.
The incident started when police responded to calls reporting a person screaming at Eureka St. and 18th St. at 11:32 a.m. Friday. Public Information Officer Robert Rueca said officers made contact with a nude man armed with a knife who then fled from the scene. Officers set up a perimeter to search for him.
"During this search, officers noticed smoke billowing from a structure on the 100 block of Eureka St. We summoned fire personnel immediately," said Rueca.
Fire crews quickly responded and were able to suppress the two-alarm fire.
The building is a three-story home, possibly with multiple units.
"As with many San Francisco buildings, these are tight fit," San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter said of the neighboring structures.
There were no injuries.
Four adults and two children were displaced and there was significant damage to the rear of the building.
The man was reportedly inside the building initially and may have escaped through neighboring backyards. Nearby residents were evacuated and told to shelter-in-place for several hours before the man was found.
Some neighbors told KCBS Radio there have been repeated disturbances at the building that caught fire, however, officials said it's too early to tell if the two incidents are related.
"Whether the fire is related to the suspect that we are in search for, that is still part of our investigation. It has not been established whether these two incidents are related," explained Rueca. "We have a working crime scene both for the possible fire investigation of the structure as well as for the active search for the armed suspect."
Lt. Baxter credited regular collaborative training between the fire and police departments for the quick response.
“The law enforcement officers arrived on scene first, they placed their vehicles not knowing that this was going to be a fire incident. That forward thinking allowed us to arrive on scene and quickly address this fire that easily could have resulted in the conflagration and the entire block being lost,” he said. “I will personally thank our partners with the San Francisco Police Department.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation, as is a possible connection to the armed suspect.
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