Fire burns at elder care facility in San Francisco's Japantown; residents evacuated
Two people were taken to a hospital after a fire burned at a four-story building housing an elderly care facility in San Francisco's Japantown Friday.
The location was the Jones Senior Homes apartment building at 1727 Fillmore Street between Sutter and Post Streets. The San Francisco Fire Department said the initial call was received at 10:47 a.m.
The two-alarm fire started on the third floor of the building and extended to the fourth floor, the Fire Department said.
When firefighters arrived, they were faced with evacuating more than 100 elderly residents, many who could not move quickly on their own, said SFFD Lt. Mariano Elias.
"Basically this was 51 units of seniors who were either invalid or immobile," said Elias. "So basically, our firefighters worked aggressively to evacuate all people who were in the building and rescue them from the high heat conditions that the fire was presenting."
He added that firefighters had the added challenge of trying to communicate with the mostly Japanese-speaking residents.
Seventy-five firefighters were at the scene to extinguish the fire and evacuate residents. Four residents were evaluated and one of those was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Elias said. A subsequent post on the Fire Department's X social media platform indicated a second person was also taken to a local hospital in an unknown condition
Firefighters remained on the scene to put out hot spots more than two hours after the fire began. The cause of the fire was not immediately known but Elias said it started in one of the units.