INTRODUCTION TO SF 2020: FIRES GALLERY

The Apocalypse. That’s what came to mind September 9 as I looked out the window of my apartment in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset around 9am. It was still dark out where the low sky did not burn orange. I had been working at home home since March because of the COVID-19 lockdown. At noon I rushed out to take some pictures of the only slightly brighter, but still burned-orange sky at noon. I went first to Twin Peaks. The road was blocked off right where the housing ended and the sides of the road were lined with parked cars and people milling about trying to take pictures of the downtown skyline. I started to walk the rest of the way up the hill when a policeman announced over his loudspeaker that he was going to start issuing tickets to everyone who was parked illegally. It didn’t matter, there were no pictures to be had as even the outlines of the buildings were hidden by a dark shroud of thick orange haze. I drove down the hill and back up to the top of Market Street. It was still very hazy but the skyrises were just visible. Next, I went to capture City Hall before going up Potrero Hill for another skyline shot before turning my camera down the street to Twin Peaks, where I had begun, and Sutro Tower in the distance.

The next day, the sky was much brighter but still filled with invisible, minute, toxic ashes from the fires around the Bay Area. Larger specks of ash had settled on cars over the next successive days. The numerous people who would normally flock to Golden Gate Park for a walk, run, or bicycle ride were almost non-existent, wisely avoiding the bad air.

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Firefighters responding to a fire at Jika Ramen restaurant in the Outer Sunset. No, the wildfires never reached the City though a localized on broke out as close as South San Francisco. Still, as the sunset on 29 September, across the street and less than 100 yards away from our home, we could see smoke billowing out of some building behind a large apartment complex at 40th and Irving Streets. It was only much later that we realized the fire was at Jika Ramen. Several fire trucks showed up and the fire was put out in a short time. A crowed of neighbors who had gathered on a corner opposite the fire applauded the bravery of the men and women firefighters.

A short while later, those affected started posting about their experiences on a neighborhood app. A woman who lives around the corner from the restaurant told how a female employee from the restaurant was trapped in the yard behind it which abutted her backyard so she had to throw a chair over to help the shaking woman climb the fence to safety. A mother living next door to the restaurant “heard a strange, loud popping sound and saw the flames shooting up the back of Jika Ramen next to our daughter’s bedroom 9 ages 4 and 6). I started shouting like a madwoman to get out and my 6-year-old is such a champ she immediately went downstairs-stark naked! (Had just finished her bath). Our incredible neighbors…, were helping me with the girls while also taking care of their toddler. They both had such presence of mind.” One of these neighbors gave the older girl a hoody to cover herself. “The fire fighters were here so so quickly. No one was hurt, but our neighbors who lived above the restaurant have to have lost everything.“ The neighbor, a musician with a large, upright bass, responded with a note of thanks for everyone’s concern and support, and assuring us that his instrument survived: “It’s just caked in soot. Nothing a good cleaning won’t fix.”