It's been a busy long holiday weekend for the San Francisco Fire Department, with multiple fires popping up Saturday, Sunday, and this morning. During the conflagrations, a bike shop was destroyed, a firefighter was injured, and a pit bull was saved. Here's a roundup:
Saturday, January 17, 6:20 a.m.
A bike shop was destroyed and a firefighter injured in a one-alarm fire at 1943 Ocean Avenue.
According to KRON4, the fire began at Ebikes SF, an electric bike shop located in the two-story building at that address. The fire sparked near a workbench at the back of the shop, KRON reports, causing the bike shop owner to reportedly "lose everything."
One firefighter was transported to San Francisco General after fighting the blaze, possible suffering from dehydration.
By 7 a.m. the fire was under control, SFFD officials say.
Saturday, January 17, 8:10 a.m.
Fire officials say that a space heater placed on a couch might be behind a fire at a two-story home on the 2100 block of Revere Avenue.
Bay City News reports that two adults and a child escaped from the blaze on their own. Fire crews then rescued the family dog, a pit bull which had been left behind in the home.
Emergency crews gave the dog oxygen, and after an evaluation from SF Animal Care and Control, the pup was given a clean bill of health.
No other injuries were reported as a result of the fire, which began in the living room of the home, possibly after a space heater ignited a couch.
Sunday, January 18, 3:40 a.m.
Not much to see here: a one-alarm fire was reported in the garage of a home on the 2100 block of 40th Avenue, which is between Quintara and Rivera Streets. It was extinguished by 4 a.m.
Monday, January 19
In a bizarre echo of several recent blazes, a string of at least three fires appear to have been set in locations across the Castro District Monday morning.
Just before 4 a.m., reports ABC7, a pick-up truck appears to have been caught afire at 19th and Castro Streets. The Chron reports that the vehicle was completely destroyed.
Then at 4:30 a.m., arson investigators were called to two fires set across the street from one another at 18th and Hartford Streets. Both of those were apparently set outside homes, but in one case the flames spread to the structure, burning its facade and scorching its front door to the tune of $20,000 in damage, per the Chron.
About six blocks away, at 9:22 the SFFD brought a one-alarm fire at 23rd and Douglass Streets under control. It's unclear at this time if this fire was related to the previous three from this morning, and SFFD officials were unavailable to provide comment at publication time.
The Castro area appears to have been beset with a firebug since at least mid-November, when three cars were burned near 18th and Noe Streets. Four more area cars were torched mid-December, and another was burned just a few days later on Hartford Street.
According to SFFD arson task force head Capt. John Darmanin, who spoke with the Chron today, “The way the fires were set was similar and it’s very possible the same person could have set the fires. We’re not leaving that possibility unnoticed.”
