Investigators Report San Francisco Mission Bay Fire Was Accidental, Likely Caused By Welding

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) A fire investigation report released Tuesday gave more details about the cause of a five-alarm fire at an under-construction apartment building in San Franciscos Mission Bay neighborhood in March.

The March 11 fire was reported around 5 p.m. at a construction site at Fourth and China Basins streets, where a 172-unit building was being built as part of the MB360 development project by BRE Properties.

The unfinished building was destroyed and demolished in the days following the massive blaze.

In the report, written by San Francisco fire investigator Stephen Engler on April 15, the fire was deemed accidental after an event involving a wire welding unit or grinder between the top floor and high roof area.

The fire was sparked on the sixth-floor roof area in the southeast section of the building between the top floor and the roof, he wrote.

There was $40 million in property damage, along with $100,000 worth of contents destroyed in the building.

In Englers report, he details arriving at the site and seeing a plume of vertical smoke. He determined all construction crews had left the site, where there had been three areas performing hot work earlier in the day.

One project was welding on the roof area, where the fire appears to have started.

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Investigators Report San Francisco Mission Bay Fire Was Accidental, Likely Caused By Welding