Posted on 08/02/2023 9:55:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yesterday there was a massive fire in San Francisco at a construction site next to some occupied homes. The city’s Fire Chief said her first impression on seeing the fire was that it had the potential to take out an entire city block. Thanks solely to the hard work of about 140 SFFD firefighters that didn’t happen.
The fire began shortly after 6 a.m. at Octavia Boulevard and Oak Street, firefighters said.
More than 40 trucks and 130 firefighters arrived soon after, with the fire reaching four alarms…
Shortly after 8:30 a.m., firefighters said the blaze had been contained with no reported injuries.
Cameras were rolling when part of the structure collapsed in on itself.
A massive 4-alarm fire engulfed a building under construction in San Francisco's Hayes Valley at Octavia Blvd and Oak St. Video shows scaffolding collapsing under the flames. https://t.co/XOVPrIdREz pic.twitter.com/3Lvwb42sKn
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) August 1, 2023
Another angle showing how close this was to other homes:
#SanFrancisco
4-alarm fire at Octavia & Oak. pic.twitter.com/XEmDhjcR1R— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) August 1, 2023
No one was hurt but eight people were displaced from their homes because of damage caused by the fire. Like probably half the people in they city, I immediately had my own suspicious about how this got started but didn’t write about it yesterday because I didn’t want to speculate.
Today, we still don’t know for certain how this got started but we have learned their residents in the area had previously written a letter to elected officials sharing their concerns about homeless camps nearby, in particular about fires at those camps.
Months before a massive fire ravaged a Hayes Valley building with flames hot enough to crack windows on nearby structures, a San Francisco neighborhood group implored city leaders to act after a string of smaller blazes cropped up near the site of Tuesday’s vicious conflagration.
“Hayes Valley has suffered a series of dangerous fires along Octavia Boulevard that started around tent encampments,” wrote Jennifer Laska, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, in a May 30 letter to Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Dean Preston, Police Chief Bill Scott and other city officials.
Laska went on to describe a troubling pattern, citing fires that sparked up on March 31, April 24 and April 25 near a construction site at Octavia Boulevard and Hickory Street, where people had pitched tents, she said. During the April 25 incident, an encampment burst into flames along the median of the roadway, she said. Cyclists passing by rescued a person from a tent as the fire erupted, she added.
The same letter also complained about people taking the covers off power poles and splicing into the wiring which is a fire hazard. But perhaps the most damning thing was a photo taken by a local resident showing a homeless person sitting next to a fire build beneath the scaffolding of the construction site that just burned down.
KRON 4 published the photo along with a bit of the exasperated letter sent to elected officials:
“Our neighborhood and our city is literally being trashed and set on fire and you all are doing nothing about it. We are asking you to take these issues seriously and remove encampments that pose a danger to our community when we report them instead of throwing your hands up in the air.”
To be clear, that photo was apparently taken in January so it’s not related to the fire yesterday but it gives you an idea what is happening in the neighborhood. Mayor London Breed published a lengthy thread on Twitter today asking people to be patient and not jump to conclusions.
First, again, right now we can't jump to conclusions and connect this nearby encampment and the fire. I understand it's hard, especially now when we have access to social media and shared content 24/7. But we must be patient.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
They successfully connected 12 people into shelter, but others did not accept. We can't force people to accept or stay in shelter and we're unable to prevent people from setting up an encampment in area that was just cleaned. This is the situation we are in.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
As long as there are encampments, there’s a risk that conditions like this will persist. We will do everything we can, within the law, to address that.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
Every day our outreach teams go out to help people. But what they can do is limited, and the pressure they are under is immense. They cannot monitor these sites 24/7 for illegal behavior.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
Finally, it’s important to reiterate that yesterday’s fire is under investigation and too early to speculate the cause for how it happened. While the investigators conduct a thorough investigation, we'll continue with our outreach efforts with the limited abilities we have.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
Several points about all of this. First, this is probably the right thing for the Mayor of the city to say at this moment. Officials have to say the right thing even if they have a hard time believing it themselves. That said, it’s really not too early to speculate. In fact, given the letter, the recent homeless fires in the area and the photos, it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that the homeless are a likely culprit in this fire. In this case that’s not just a knee-jerk reaction.
Second point, I hope the investigators are able to figure out what happened here but given the extent of the blaze you have to wonder if that will even be possible. Arson investigation isn’t magic. It’s at least possible this can’t be conclusively solved. We’ll have to wait and see.
Third, Mayor Breed may sound like she’s whining a bit but honestly the city’s hands really are tied by judges at the 9th circuit and elsewhere. She writes, “We can’t force people to accept or stay in shelter and we’re unable to prevent people from setting up an encampment in area that was just cleaned. This is the situation we are in.” I think that’s probably accurate. So long as tent camps can be set up anywhere and can’t be removed just as quickly, the city is fighting a losing battle. Whether or not this fire was caused by the homeless, we know that hundreds of calls to the fire department every year involve the homeless. In Portland, it’s about half of all calls to the fire department.
Of course it’s possible investigators will solve this and maybe it won’t be connected to the homeless in this instance, but the really depressing part of this story is that it probably doesn’t matter. Put another way, what will actually change if this blaze is definitively connected to a homeless camp nearby? The legal situation won’t change. The residents of the city won’t change their opinions much.
So I guess we can all be well behaved citizens and refuse to speculate knowing that the outcome won’t matter anyway. Homeless people have been setting dangerous fires in the city for years and they’ll still be doing it next month and the month after that no matter what investigators working on this case conclude.
Most of the fires in Fairbanks are caused by homeless people squatting and burning up the places sooner of later.
dung fires are hard to put out.
It appears to BE a city block !
Mostly pieceful. They’re just mis-understood.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 2, 2023
I guess they need more time to come up with some other plausible explanation for the fire. Probably some BS about Global Boiling.
Mayor London Breed is a MARXIST coward. Let the city burn. Time that the commies, leftist allies and black fascists showed their true colors, Red Marxism and Black Fascism.
They got voted in or took control of the streets. Either way, freedom died there a long time ago. Let’s bury what is left and move on.
They won't because they don't care.
Nah.
The investigation will take months complete and review (for the sake of thoroughness), then the investigation’s recommendations to be need to be reviewed. However, if the investigation or the recommendations go against the received and accepted narrative, the reports will be deemed inadequate or biased.
A new investigation will be started; this time with properly vetted experts. If it still proves resistant to their expertise, a suitably watered down version will be released during a four day holiday.
Well, some developer is out millions in construction costs; someone who was actually trying to do something positive for business in the city.
That’ll learn ‘em!
Yeah, sure. Insurance will cover it. People who say that don’t know (or perhaps don’t care) that insurance companies are fleeing the state. There are a number of factors, to be sure. But, taken together, they add up to an abnormal risk environment. One where the premium pool revenues cannot be expected to sustain a permissive environment and unlimited losses.
Says the person who can make and pass laws in that city. But the commies only use that power against their enemies.
Hope City Hall is the next place up in flames. Then the mayors mansion.
The image that was posted of the fire under scaffold?
When you enlarge the photo, it looks like a guy with a coat on. And possibly some kind of cap.
I don’t know what the weather in San Francisco is like now, but here is Texas it is way too hot for a coat.
It the photo taken during the Winter. Scaffolds look pretty similar in most places.
Just saying??
On the other hand, the homeless people could have some real terrorists among them. With so many illegal aliens it is hard to trace the actual terrorists.
Not a good situation.
The City Fire Chief is a “Her”. - interesting
White Supremacy
I’d rather see their personal homes burn first.
This week 3 homeless died out in Morris county, which is a pretty high class area (except for few parts) One was murdered by another mutant, one fell in a river and drowned Another hit by train
Big Seattle fire at homeless camp recently ....... 🧐
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