SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A four-alarm fire in San Francisco’s Lower Haight neighborhood Tuesday afternoon caused $2.15 million in damage to the three-story building where it broke out, a fire spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The blaze at the building on the southeast corner of Haight and Fillmore streets, which was reported at 4:08 p.m., was brought under control by 5:15 p.m.
The fire damage was mostly contained to the third-story unit where the blaze originated, but other units on that level were uninhabitable, spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said. Those units sustained heavy water and smoke damage, and firefighters had to tear through their ceilings to battle flames that spread into the building’s attic space.
The fire, which displaced 14 residents and forced the Walgreens store on its ground level to close, caused $1.8 million in damage to the structure and $350,000 in damage to its contents, Talmadge said.
The store remained closed Wednesday because the building remained without gas or electricity service. PG&E turned off the service when the building was deemed uninhabitable, a utility spokeswoman said.
“Service has not been restored and won’t be restored until the facility is inspected by electricians and plumbers to ensure the building is in operable condition,” PG&E spokeswoman Monica Tell said.
Fire officials said they had yet to determine the cause of the fire, although investigators are responding to reports that early responders heard popping sounds. It was too soon to tell if the fire was suspicious, Talmadge said.
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