While the exact number remains unknown, loads of people lost their homes and belongs after today's five-alarm fire in the city's Western Addition. A ruined holiday season is the least of their worries. But you can help. The Red Cross will have a tent area at 1455 Golden Gate (at Pierce) tonight and tomorrow taking donations of clothes, blankets, good tidings, etc. monetary donations only. You can go to the downtown San Francisco Red Cross at 85 2nd Street (at Mission). more ›

A huge blaze, which has been described as the largest in the area since the Berkeley/Oakland Hills fire in 1991, burned inside the historic 39-unit Sequoias apartment building at Haste and Telegraph in Berkeley for seventeen hours on Friday night and most of the day Saturday. An estimated seventy residents were displaced and the building was gutted, making a subsequent investigation difficult, as investigators won't be allowed to enter the building. more ›

Due to Hurricane Irene, word has hit that an urgent blood supply shortage is now officially rampant on the East Coast. The Red Cross is asking Bay Area residents to donate as soon as possible. Eastern power outages and floodings have caused 72 blood drives to shut down; the Red Cross is in a desperate need for blood platelets, as cancer patients are currently in need of transfusions. more ›

Wednesday night's three-alarm fire that ravaged Park Hotel on Folsom Street left over 75 San Franciscans homeless. The Red Cross set up shelters to cover the displaced for the night, and will continue tonight. While investigators have yet to determine how it started -- SF Weekly debunked rumors that the fire was sparked by an indoor barbecue -- the Chronicle reports that the blaze "gutted the apartment house and spread to three other buildings, causing significant damage to a six-unit apartment behind it and minor to moderate damage to adjacent structures." more ›

By now most of you have seen ample footage of the tsunami that followed Friday's massive earthquake in Japan. We want you to look at one more, please. According to RussianToday: "[the footage shows] the moment the tsunami struck Japan's northeast coast. Residents of the port town of Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture watched in horror as the first huge tsunami waves hit, sweeping away cars and buildings. One group managed to scramble to safety on higher ground, where they watched as the water surged towards them." more ›

Just letting you know that the fire -- which as of late this afternoon has consumed thousands of acres since it started at around 5:30 a.m. this morning -- is "completely out of control" as of 4:30 p.m. San Francisco firefighters have been deployed to the scene. What with the serious winds blowing in the area, no one knows just when the fire will start to die down. Wineries have been lost, homes and school evacuated, and Arnold has declared a state emergency. more ›

For those of you with large animals (i.e., horses, emus, et al.) or even not so large animals (i.e., Sprinkles, et al.), a Capitola reader just informed us that you can take your beloved pets to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. more ›

Oh dear. A hefty-sized earthquake hit northeastern Nevada this morning. You know what that means, don't you? Time to sound the alarm for everyone in the Bay Area to get prepared. more ›

A two-alarm fire at Bernal Heights home caused the displacement of two elderly folks. The blaze happened at 266 Nevada Street around 6:30 p.m. this evening. According to the Gate, "[f]irefighters found the home's two residents inside and brought them out to safety." Aw. Our heroes! more ›

Good Lord, Bay Area residents. It seems that we had not one, but two bomb scares yesterday. more ›

But some good news: The LA Times has a helpful breakdown worth a moment of your time, on how you can help people (and pets!) in need right now. We've re-printed it for your convenience: more ›

We can only hope that every single news outlet has printed a typo when reporting the amount of cash the United States is sending Peru, which is still experiencing severe aftershocks. As the death toll climbs past 500, with more than 1,500 reported injuries, the United States government has pledged a whopping $100,000 in support. Why don’t we just send America’s Player, Eric (with his oh-so-attractive pierced nipples) from Big Brother to help them... more ›

SFist Rita is kind of right - it should be easier to find an emergency kit. Target does sell them, if your politics allow you to pick one up there. If not, maybe it'll be helped by knowing that $10 from each purchase (they sell for $29.99) goes to the Red Cross. That's not a bad place to start, but you're probably better off spending some time really putting together something that works for you, and you can probably do it more cheaply assembling all of the items yourself. more ›

Saturday We're going to Southern Relief's first SF Fundraiser for the Victims of Katrina. There will be t-shirts, tote bags, stickers, pins, baked goods and a prize drawing in exchange for donations to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief effort. On the steps of the Christian Science Church (655 Dolores) from 10:00am to 3:00pm. more ›

Covering your entertainment scene for the rest of the work week! Tonight, Go check out Neil Strauss reading from his new book on picking up women, "The Game," and learn how you too can have Courtney Love crash on your couch for an indefinite period of time! 7:30 p.m. at the Marina Books Inc. (of course). Thursday, it's tiki night at the Make-Out Room! Hula dancing, tiki carving, tiki movies, and tiki art for sale. Polynesian merriment will abound! and Friday: fans of contemporary opera can whet their Doctor Atomic appetite and check out the premiere of the Oakland Opera's performance of La Belle et la Bete by Philip Glass. The opera's based on the Cocteau film, and the Oakland Opera is staging it as a circus performance. Grab some chicken and waffles after the show! more ›

San Francisco's a city of immigrants -- how many people do you know who actually grew up here? -- and our lovely vintage F-line is no exception. The refurbished trolley cars on the F hail from Boston, Philadelphia, England, Italy, and, notably, New Orleans; and starting tomorrow, the New Orleans trolley (that's the one with the sign that says "A Streetcar Named Desire") will be carrying a torch for its hometown. Actually, it'll be carrying a banner, reading "help the people of my hometown," with contact info for the Red Cross. The idea was started by friend of SFist and geeky transit enthusiast Jamision, who brought the idea to Supervisor Bevan Dufty. Bevan liked the idea and forwarded it to Stuart Sunshine, the interim head of Muni, and after some public prodding, a plan to encourage donations went ahead. Muni also just acquired an additional vintage New Orleans trolley (that one not in running condition); it's nice to see SF welcoming Nola's displaced residents, be they human or mechanical. And don't forget to give. more ›

Cares is in a bit of shock, actually. We just can't stop watching the news and hoping that maybe, just maybe, at some point Wolf Blitzer turns to the camera and says "Psyche!". That's how wishful our thinking has become. more ›

Though New Orleans was spared the worst of Katrina, it doesn't mean that's it's all coming up roses for the Big Easy. A levee has broken, folks who evacuated may not be able to return for days, and looting has broken out. Of course, as you all know, for breaking news and the personal stories behind the tragedy, check out Technorati's Katrina page, search Flickr for photos or drop in on New Orleans Metblogs. Our hearts go out to folks all over the gulf coast and inland who have lost homes, friends and relatives. SFist Violet is doing her part, filling in for the sopping wet Jonno over at Fleshbot. You can pitch in, too, by donating to the Red Cross disaster relief fund. more ›

Music-loving good samaritans, this is your lucky week. If you like to enjoy a little partying and live performance in exchange for your charitable contributions, you have no less than six different tsunami relief benefits to choose from. On Friday, The Independent is having their second benefit, featuring members of New Monsoon, ALO, Samantha and the Ritual for a donation of $10-50. Great American's benefit that night with indie kings Gibbard, Kozelek, Richman and Bachman is sold out, but buying a ticket from a scalper would be even more wrong than usual. Bottom of the Hill's "Wave of Relief" benefit is on Sunday, with Blind Justice, The MoFonics, OM&M, et al. Monday night Erase Errata, Murder Murder, Curse of the Birthmark and So So Many White White Tigers rock the Elbo Room. Wednesday night brings another benefit at Bottom of the Hill, with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Jason Quever from the Papercuts and several others, for $7 and up. Also that night is a benefit presented by A Show of Hands at Rickshaw Stop with comedy, film, dance, theatre and music from the likes of Hard Nox and Killing My Lobster, for a donation of $5-20. Look at you, San Francisco, doin' so good! For those about to rock for a good cause, we salute you. more ›

Our man at the SF Weekly, Nate Cavalieri, put together a less somber but no less sincere benefit event at 12 Galaxies in the Mission. The Benefit Show for the International Red Cross Disaster Relief Efforts in South Asia will be on Wednesday at 7:30 and will include performers Mark Eitzel, Jolie Holland, Sonny Smith, Jeffrey Luck Lucas, Loquat, The Herms, Dave Gleason, Mike Therieau and Pat Johnson, The Bellyachers, Tom Heyman and Bart Davenport. It will be ten dollars at the door, although you can give more, and 100% of the door and much of the drink proceeds will go directly to charities helping with the relief effort. There will also be a benefit raffle with prizes, including Amoeba gift certificates and vintage Red Cross gear. more ›

Shortly after the terrible tsunami in the Indian Ocean, SFist Mary-Lynn put together a great SFist Cares feature. But as the extent of suffering has begun to become fully apparent, we felt that we weren't necessarily doing enough. The scale of this tragedy will probably not be matched in our lifetimes. At least we sure hope not. more ›

SFist Cares tries to focus on local issues and local charities. But when there are more than 44,000 people dead, thousands more missing, and millions homeless that's something that affects us not as San Franciscans, but as humans. So forgive us this once for going beyond our own borders and our own needy and asking you to help these people around the other side of the globe. more ›

SFist has been known to be a little crafty - and not just in our excuses why we can't buy that next round of drinks either. We've got some skills and one of them is knitting. We've made scarves for everyone we know and, well, we hope you like what we got you for Christmas this year too. more ›