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Video: 5-alarm fire rages in S.F. Mission District

Fire crews limited damage to two buildings; two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation

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By Kale Williams, Erin Allday and Vivian Ho
The San Francisco Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO — Firefighters contained a five-alarm blaze Thursday evening in San Francisco’s Mission District after it burned for hours, injured at least four people, damaged two buildings and sent up a huge plume of smoke.

The fire was reported at 1:11 p.m. at 2632 Mission St. near 22nd Street, where wholesale shop Big House Inc. is located. Two civilians and a firefighter were taken to a hospital for treatment after inhaling smoke, while one firefighter was treated at the scene for the same ailment.

Smoke rose above the center of the block and was visible for miles. Flames danced from the top of the two-story building as firefighters doused the structure with water. Originally a two-alarm blaze, the incident grew to five alarms by about 2:15 p.m.

“The smoke just started billowing huge, and the blackness of it was scary,” said security guard Mary Browning, 55. “I started coughing. Then about half an hour later, I saw the flames, which were really scary because flames can jump.”

Ericka Cifuentes, 23, said she was working at a Skechers shoe store at 2600 Mission St. when she smelled smoke. She thought it was coming from the next block, but when she ran outside, she saw it was right next door.

“The hardest part was getting the customers out because they were still trying to shop,” she said.

Neighbors said they stayed in their homes for half an hour or longer, watching the smoke rise before flames burst through the top of the building. Several homes on Bartlett Street behind the fire were evacuated, and firefighters used the backyards and roofs to attack the flames.

“It was like a volcano,” said Colin Bowring, 35, who lives on Bartlett Street. “And the heat changed then. It got really intense.”

Told to leave, he was able to grab electronic equipment and notebooks, but had to leave behind pets. About an hour later, Bowring and his roommates ducked back inside to grab a snake and two birds.

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said firefighters were able to restrict the damage to two buildings. The second one, at 2630 Mission St., houses New Mission City, another discount store. It was built in 1918 and is considered historic.

Hayes-White said alleged overcrowded conditions at Big House Inc. prompted complaints to the city in 2009 and 2013. The business was instructed to widen aisles after a 2009 Fire Department inspection, she said, and was found to be in compliance in a 2013 inspection.

Hours after the fire was reported, firefighters were still on scene, pouring water on the flames.

A large pile of soggy, half-burnt merchandise lay on the sidewalk in front of the gutted store. The second floor and roof of the building had both caved in and Hayes-White said that crews would set up a collapse zone as a precaution while investigators worked to determine the blaze’s cause.

Firefighters declared the fire contained, but not under control, about 5 p.m., and they were still checking for hot spots into the evening.

“We’ll be there all night,” Hayes-White said.

Chronicle staff writer J.K. Dineen contributed to this report.

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(c)2014 the San Francisco Chronicle

Distributed by MCT Information Services

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