Inferno in the outer Richmond neighborhood – photo San Francisco Fire Department
The Sunday morning inferno
The normal Sunday morning tranquility was broken when fire trucks and emergency vehicles came rumbling down the block past our home in the normally quiet outer Richmond District.
I stepped outside to see smoke billowing from a home on the next block and a mass of fire fighters extinguishing the blaze.
The fire started when the elderly resident of the two unit building was cooking with oil. Flames rose up through the kitchen flue causing the blaze which destroyed the building. Fortunately he got out safely and nobody was injured.
A firefighter scales the ladder
The fire quickly went to two alarms and four San Francisco Fire Department battalions responded to extinguish the blaze. Because of the efficient and professional work of the fire fighters the buildings on either side of the conflagration were not damaged.
According to the SF Fire Department over 70 firefighters were dispatched to fight the blaze.
Looking down the block at the scene of the conflagration. St. Thomas the Apostle steeple in the background.
Fire fighters look on at the fire destroyed building
Firefighterssurveying the burnt out wreckage of the Sunday morning blaze in the outer Richmond neighborhood
A trio of firefighters whose sole job is to assist any of their comrades should they be injured.
A photographer documents the blaze
Smoke billows from the burning building.
Some of the San Francisco firefighters on the job on Sunday morning
The Sunday morning sun looms over the site of the blaze
San Francisco Fire Department battalion chiefsconsole owner of fire destroyed property.
The fire hydrant adjacent to Donna the Drain. Its recently cleaned condition enable the excess water to flow freely into the SFPUC system
Fire fighters utilized the fire hydrant at the corner to extinguish the blaze. The hydrant was readily accessible as long time Public Utilities Commission volunteer drain maintainer Liz Heidhues, keeper of ‘Donna the Drain’, had thoroughly cleaned the corner location after the fierce Saturday rainstorms.
There was plenty of equipment on stand by to ensure the blaze was eradicated and to care for anybody who may have been injured. Fortunately the medical teams were not necessary.
Top photo – Firefighters approach the Sunday morning blazing inferno as neighbors look on incredulously
Lee's Perspective 