A five-alarm fire tore through multiple San Francisco buildings after starting in a longtime family business Tuesday.
More than 160 firefighters and 60 pieces of apparatus responded to the blaze, which erupted at around 7 a.m. in Bartfeld Sales Co., which had been in the city's South of Market neighborhood since 1947, KTVU-TV reports. Thick plumes of black smoke and pillars of flames could be seen coming from the fire blocks away.
The blaze knocked down electrical lines at the scene, which hampered firefighting efforts, Lt. Jonathan Baxter told KTVU. When those power lines and other electrical transformers were threatened, Deputy Chief of Fire Operations Victor Wyrsch said crews shifted to a defensive posture
“They were as aggressive as you can be in a defensive fire,” he said at a press conference.
San Francisco’s high-pressure water system also needed to be used when hydrants couldn't provide enough water pressure initially, Wyrsch added. Water from the city's Twin Peaks section was needed to help douse the flames.
A firefighter was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries after being struck on the head, Baxter told the Palo Alto Daily News. During a TV press conference, officials said they were taking added precautions with the firefighter because it was a head injury.
By 9 a.m., firefighters had stopped the blaze's forward movement, and it was about 90 percent contained by noon. As many as six buildings suffered damaged, and three residents were displaced.
