The people displaced in this massive 4-alarm fire in San Francisco’s North Beach are still coming to grips with the loss.
A preliminary investigation indicates that the cause of the fire was accidental, according to San Francisco Fire Lt. Jonathan Baxter.
However, the investigation is still ongoing.
KRON4 was back out at the scene on Monday, where she talked to the business owners and employees who are wondering their next steps will be.
“I’m pretty sad about it,” North Beach employee Primitivo Martinez said.
Martinez came back where his job used to be to take pictures of the burned out shell. The building on the corner of Union and Columbus that housed the restaurant he worked in and five other storefronts has been red-tagged and considered unsafe, which means, for now, Primitivo and many other people are out of work.
“My boss just came, try to get inside, and went into the basement,” Martinez said. “Water was up to her knees so everything is lost in the basement. I’m pretty sure everything is lost up here too.”
The building also has 28 units upstairs, but they were empty after another fire there several years ago.
“It’s weird because I think it was under construction,” Martinez said. “They said it was under construction this time too.”
For the owner of Coit Liquors, it’s the second time he’s has to start over.
He plans to work out of his brother and sister-in-law’s café up the street.
“No one can go in at the time, so until we can do that, then we can start putting some stuff into the store,” Shadi Zughaya said.
The four-alarm fire ripped through the building, starting a little after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and many St. Patrick’s Day revelers were forced to evacuation.
There were no injuries, and while the building is gutted, the department spokesman says their aggressive tactics kept the fire from spreading to the other buildings in the densely packed neighborhood.
Eight Residents have been displaced for now from 575 Columbus, which has been yellow-tagged due to water damage, but the city is working to repopulate that building.
A spokesperson for the city’s building department says the building is so unsafe that inspectors could not get inside, so the full extent of the damage is unknown.
You can see the street is still being blocked off here just in case.
The owners are on notice to hire an engineer to help them determine what next steps need to be taken to secure the site.