San Francisco fire: Welding explored as cause of inferno

Firefighters worked to stamp out the remaining hot spots Wednesday at an apartment complex that was consumed by flames in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood, as investigators looked into whether welding work ignited the inferno during construction of the huge project.

Hundreds of residents of homes in nearby buildings remained evacuated because the fire's intense heat blew out windows, set off sprinkler systems and caused other damage.

Water pooled at the base of the gutted structure as firefighters poured millions of gallons of water on the building throughout the day. Puffs of smoke rose periodically as onlookers gathered to take pictures. Workers with brooms swept glass, the debris from the busted windows, from the sidewalk.

Tuesday's blaze - the city's biggest in years - had advanced quickly through the six-story structure, which city officials and building experts said was particularly vulnerable to fire because materials that repel fire hadn't been added and safety systems such as sprinklers hadn't been installed.

Whatever the cause, officials said, the fire appears to have smoldered for up to an hour before crews arrived about 5 p.m., finding 40-foot walls of flames and a plume of smoke that billowed above the city and could be seen across the Bay Area.

Mayor Ed Lee, who visited the site on Fourth Street near China Basin Street on Wednesday, credited firefighters for keeping the conflagration from spreading. The fire was confined to a 172-unit portion of the apartment complex, with the exception of a roof that briefly ignited at an adjacent UCSF research facility.

The scorched building is part of an emerging Mission Bay neighborhood, just south of AT&T Park, where several developments are in the works as part of city revitalization efforts.

"People will say the city responded well, and our Fire Department deserves some kudos on this," Lee said.

The Fourth Street apartments are part of a 360-unit project known as MB360, headed by developer BRE Properties Inc. of San Francisco. A second piece of MB360, where 188 apartments are under construction nearby, did not burn. The homes were expected to be completed late this year.

Officials at BRE Properties said Wednesday that the site was insured for fire damage. However, the future of the site remained unclear as the company plans to merge with Palo Alto-based Essex Properties later this year. Essex Properties officials did not return a call seeking comment.

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San Francisco fire: Welding explored as cause of inferno