10:31 AM: Four people were injured, two critically, in a two-alarm fire in San Francisco’s Mission District early this morning, fire department officials said.
The blaze was reported around 4:30 a.m. in a rear unit on the top floor of a three-story apartment building at 3360 24th St., near Bartlett Street, according to the fire department.
Firefighters battled strong winds but were able to control the fire in about an hour.
One of the four people injured suffered serious burns and was taken to St. Francis Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The second person who was critically injured was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, fire officials said.
The other two victims were taken to California Pacific Medical Center’s St. Luke’s campus and are expected to survive.
The cause of the blaze had not yet been determined as of this morning, but it is not considered suspicious, fire officials said.
Streets were closed off as firefighters battled the blaze, but as of 10 a.m. 24th Street had reopened.
There was a pile of burned debris outside the building, and daylight could be seen through holes in the wall and ceiling of the rear unit where the fire apparently started.
One resident, local artist Elliott C. Nathan, 26, stood outside the building with his roommates, who were wearing pajama bottoms.
He said he was asleep in his ground-floor apartment around 4:30 a.m. when his roommate started screaming for everyone to wake up and get out.
Nathan said his roommates grabbed their laptops and left the building, but that he made five or six trips back and forth to save his artwork. He said he has a show coming up at the Incline Gallery on Valencia Street, and pointed out a mural he had painted on several garage doors at 295 Bartlett St.
He said he stopped going back into the building when the smoke reached his apartment.
American Red Cross spokeswoman Cynthia Shaw said the Red Cross assisted about 27 people at the scene this morning, providing blankets, beverages and emotional support.
She said she isn’t sure how many people the Red Cross is assisting in finding temporary housing, but that most residents made their own arrangements for places to stay.
Dan McMenamin/Patricia Decker, Bay City News
9:40 AM: Four people were injured, two critically, in a fire in San Francisco’s Mission District early this morning, fire department officials said.
The two-alarm blaze was reported around 4:30 a.m. in the rear part of the top floor of an apartment building at 3360 24th St., near Bartlett Street, according to the fire department.
Firefighters battled strong winds but were able to control the fire in about an hour.
One of the four people injured suffered serious burns and was taken to St. Francis Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The second person who was critically injured was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, fire officials said.
The other two victims were taken to California Pacific Medical Center’s St. Luke’s campus and are expected to survive.
The cause of the blaze had not yet been determined as of this morning, but it is not considered suspicious, fire officials said.
The fire displaced 13 people from the apartment building.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
7:02 AM: Firefighters tackled a Mission District apartment fire in San Francisco this morning, the San Francisco fire chief told reporters at the fire site this morning.
The fire started around 4:30 a.m. in the rear of the top floor of an apartment building near Bartlett and 24th streets, fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.
“Windy conditions made it a very hard fire to fight,” she said at the scene.
Footage from the scene shows nearby streets closed this morning. The American Red Cross has also responded to the scene of the fire as of 6 a.m.
Hayes-White also told reporters one firefighter had minor smoke inhalation after he gave his mask to a person he was rescuing who needed fresh air to breathe.
A neighbor in the area, Lisa Picarille, who lives at 23rd and Valencia streets, said she saw flames around 4:45 a.m. just behind Horace Mann Middle School, which sits between 24th and 23rd streets and Valencia and Bartlett streets.
She said she looked through her back windows and saw what looked like a fire.
She spotted at least three fire trucks and heard a lot of sirens.
At 5:35 a.m. Picarille said white smoke was coming from the fire area. At her apartment, about a block north of the fire, Picarille said she could smell smoke.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
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