Overview
- A fire at the church at California and Broderick escalated to a three-alarm response that brought more than 100 firefighters and was declared under control late Monday evening.
- No injuries were reported, but the 134-year-old building was heavily damaged and is currently unusable for services.
- Firefighters shifted from interior to transitional to defensive tactics because of high winds, open construction spaces and concealed voids in the older structure, and they used drone thermal imaging to guide operations.
- PG&E cut power to thousands of nearby customers at the Fire Department’s request and restored most service by the next morning, and officials had issued and later lifted shelter-in-place and targeted evacuation orders while warning of poor air quality.
- The San Francisco Fire Investigation Task Force is conducting a standard origin-and-cause probe and has found no immediate link to a February vandalism incident on the same block; the congregation will meet temporarily at a nearby church.