Five-alarm fire

SFGATE.COM

A fast-moving fire that consumed a large apartment building under construction in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood burned into the night Tuesday, but firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading to nearby structures.

The five-alarm fire engulfed the building on Fourth Street near China Basin Street just before 5 p.m., sending black smoke thousands of feet into the sky. Scaffolding melted as chunks of the six-story, 80-foot-tall building fell away. Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White
called it the city's largest blaze in several years.
Fire officials said the structure was likely to collapse.

"The open construction of the building allowed for rapid fire spread," said fire Capt. Matthew McNaughton, adding that investigators have not determined what started the blaze.

Nearby buildings were evacuated as more than 150 firefighters battled the flames, using about 90 fire trucks and other apparatuses. The roof of UCSF's Mission Bay research building, a block away, briefly caught fire, but it was quickly put out, McNaughton said. One firefighter suffered minor burns, he said, but there were no other injuries.

The smoke "was like a huge mushroom cloud. It was as high as a plane," said Gary "Slim" Forte, 38, who was among a large crowd of locals watching the fire. "It looked like somebody blew a nuclear weapon."

Several dozen residents were evacuated from the Strata apartment building across Fourth Street from the construction site, and about 25 were gathered late Tuesday at an American Red Cross evacuation center at Pier 54.

Firefighters still had not contained the blaze by 11 p.m. McNaughton said he expected crews to remain on scene until the morning. "We have a center core that looks like a volcano," he said. "We're going to be putting water on it all night." Police said they expect street closures and a halt in Muni service on Third Street to continue until 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Construction began last year on the building, part of a 360-unit apartment complex being developed by BRE Properties on the west side of Fourth Street. It was set to be completed late this year. BRE Properties officials issued a statement late Tuesday saying they believe the company's insurance should cover the cost of damages.

The project stands in the midst of at least four other residential construction projects on or near Fourth Street south of Mission Creek. Together, they contain nearly 900 units. Hayes-White said most of the construction workers ended their day at the building around 4 p.m., but McNaughton said a few were still on the site when firefighters arrived.

Fire investigators believe that whatever sparked the blaze had as long as an hour to smolder. The building's sprinkler system had not yet been installed, Hayes-White said, and, as a result, the fire "really took off.." As sections of the building collapsed, firefighters aimed water cannons at adjacent buildings to keep the blaze from spreading to the rest of the neighborhood.

"This is a great save right here," Hayes-White said, pointing to a building across the street. "We were able to put up a water curtain. To be able to save this is huge."

Residents and workers in the area described the fire as a quick-moving, monstrous blaze. Carlos Tovar of Manteca was operating a crane 228 feet in the air on another construction project as the apartment building burst into flames.

"I thought it was just a ladder on fire at first, but then as it really got involved, the heat climbed so quickly I could feel it on my cab," Tovar said. "It moved fast, real fast." Tovar shot video with his smartphone as the flames built from just a flicker in the southeast corner of the structure, climbed to the roof and spread west. He said it soon began gobbling up the top part of the building.

As night fell, the smoke became white and the flames lessened, but Hayes-White said the structure was probably a total loss.