Crews Tame 'Fierce' CA High-Rise Blaze

Oct. 23 -- San Francisco firefighters quickly jumped on a “very fierce” fire in a Financial District residential high-rise Monday afternoon, which displaced residents from 30 apartments.

The fire broke out at 5:15 p.m. in a 25-story building at 405 Davis Court near Washington Street, a part of the Gateway complex of apartments and town houses. It began on the 12th floor and quickly spread to the 16th floor in the rear corner of the building.

The blaze burned for 45 minutes, sending clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky, as firefighters put the blaze out floor by floor. Several residents were rescued, including a couple who were each over 100 years old and had to be carried from the building, officials said. Seven people were treated on the scene for smoke inhalation and anxiety.

As the fire burned, officials evacuated the lower floors of the building but allowed residents of higher floors to remain. Many residents evacuated on their own, following the building’s fire safety plan, fire officials said.

“This building made sure their tenants knew what the fire escape plan is,” said Lt. Jonathan Baxter.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The building where the fire burned is made of fire-resistant reinforced concrete, according to city records, and has 196 apartments, fire officials said. They said they didn’t know how many people were at home when the blaze broke out.

Baxter said the fire burned through the hallways and inside approximately 10 apartments.

“Flames were lapping through the windows,” he said. “It was very fierce.”

Bystanders and evacuees said that the flames shattered and broke out windows on the 12th floor and crawled up the balconies of the building.

“The flames were pouring off and catching up the balcony, corkscrewing out,” said Colin Elliott, an Exploratorium employee who was walking past the building when he heard sirens.

Geri Koeppel, who lives on the building’s 10th floor, was preparing to leave for a tennis lesson when the alarm went off. She said she opened her door and smelled smoke in the hallway and called her husband and a friend to warn them of the fire.

Elliott and Koeppel were both ushered to a grassy area across the street from the building and said they saw thick black smoke emanating from the high-rise.

“It’s extremely scary,” Koeppel said, “because even though I’m confident the building is relatively safe, I’m worried about people who may not be able to get out.”

Everyone was able to safely evacuate the building or remain in their apartments, officials said.

As firefighters mopped up inside the building, officials were trying to get a count of how many people were displaced, and were preparing to advise them where to find housing assistance.

Evacuated residents were not allowed to return to the building, but residents who remained inside during the fire were allowed to stay.

The American Red Cross set up an evacuee information center in the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero Center.

The Gateway complex is one of the city’s largest housing complexes with 12 buildings and 1,254 apartments and 58 townhomes. A call to the building manager’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

A Safeway grocery store leases the ground-floor space. A company spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The building owners are a partnership that includes Oak Hill Investments, CM Capital and Prime Residential, according to city records.

According to city records, the building has been the subject of complaints. A city building inspector found flooding in the building’s laundry room earlier this month. Complaints filed with the city alleged that standing water has been a problem since 2015 and creates a risk for people slipping and falling. The complaint also alleges dryers and washers are out of order.

The fire broke out hours after Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White announced her retirement.

“It’s very ironic that the day I announce my retirement there’s a third-alarm fire,” she said, describing the response as “very well coordinated.”

“The San Francisco Fire Department is concerned about high-rise fires.” she said. “But this is not common.”

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who has been critical of Fire Department response in the past, applauded the firefighters this time.

“High-rise fires are a potential nightmare, and this thing went exactly as it should,” said Peskin, who arrived on scene shortly after the fire was extinguished.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Michael Cabanatuan contributed to this report.

Gwendolyn Wu and Roland Li are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers.

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