1 Year after the FIRE that dystroyed my house

sad day, 1 year. here is the article from that day.
My Address was 3330 16th Street. The Grey one on the left.



SAN FRANCISCO 5-alarm fire leaves 66 people homeless Several apartment buildings damaged in 16th Street blaze
Chuck Squatriglia, Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, July 9, 2005

Residents of four San Francisco apartment buildings damaged by a five-alarm fire across from Mission Dolores hunkered down in temporary shelters Friday as firefighters mopped up what authorities called the worst blaze the city has seen since 2002.
Six residents were treated for minor smoke inhalation from the blaze, which erupted about 2:35 a.m. and left 66 people homeless. The wind-whipped fire started on the second floor of 3330 16th St., then it spread to other floors and adjacent buildings, fire Capt. Pete Howes said.
The fire caused about $8.6 million in damage to property and possessions, Howes said, adding that the roof of a fifth building was also damaged.
Some 120 firefighters responded from as far away as the Sunset District. The first firefighters to arrive quickly summoned additional help, and the fifth alarm was sounded about 3:10 a.m.
Residents of the buildings awoke to the sound of smoke alarms and a raging fire.
"It was a wall of black smoke," said Chris Beahn, 34, who lives on the top floor of 3334 16th St., one of the damaged buildings. "After I opened the front door, I couldn't see a foot in front of me, so I closed the door."
Beahn put on his shoes and jacket before grabbing his bag, rushing to the back door and scrambling to the roof. From there, he dashed to the rooftop of an adjacent building, where a firefighter led him down a ladder.
Paul Camarillo and his partner, Vincent Escareno, both 40, were asleep in their ground-floor apartment at 3320 16th St. when Camarillo awoke to a thundering sound.
"I knew there was a fire," he said. "I heard screaming. I looked out the back window and saw embers raining down from the sky."
They grabbed their year-old Maltese dogs, Tictac and Chicklet, and a couple of Escareno's paintings before running for the door.
"I saw a ball of flame out the back window," Escareno said.
As they rushed out, firefighters rushed in, ordering residents to evacuate. Firefighters rescued two women and two children from the third floor of 3320 16th St. as the wind pushed the flames across the building's flat tar roof.
"It went very quickly," Howes said. "The wind conditions there are really crazy."
Mission Dolores and its basilica, and neighboring Congregation Sha'ar Zahav synagogue, were not damaged because the wind blew the flames away from the buildings.
The Red Cross is housing 17 people chased from the buildings.
In addition to people, firefighters rescued a number of pets from the fire.
"I can't even count them," Howes said. "There were firefighters walking out with cats, rabbits, dogs."
One of the rabbits, a brown-and-white bunny named Conor, belongs to resident Ashley Lincoln, who had been forced to flee the blaze without him. She pleaded for firefighters to go back inside and rescue the rabbit.
A firefighter went inside the smoky apartment, found Conor munching rabbit food from his bowl and carried him to safety.
Some of the rescued animals were being housed at the city's Animal Care and Control shelter.
Investigators will spend days sifting through debris to determine where and how the fire started, Howes said.
Authorities said the fire was the largest in San Francisco since the 2002 Cannery fire near Fisherman's Wharf. That five-alarm fire started in the historic Haslett Warehouse and caused millions of dollars in damage.