Fire strikes S.F. public housing known for squatters, mismanagement

A one-alarm fire broke out on Missouri Street in the Potrero Hill public housing complex on Monday evening, according to the San Francisco Fire Department, which posted video of firefighters on the roof of an apartment, flames shooting through the ceiling.

Lt. Mariano Elias, a department spokesperson, said the building was empty and that there were no injuries. The call “came in shortly after 7 p.m.,” he said, and firefighters saw “fire blowing out the windows” at the three-story building. “Upon arrival, all three floors of the housing were on fire. It was blowing through the roof.”

Eight department vehicles were on scene, and smoke and ash filled the air as firefighters began removing charred wood from the newly blackened building — before tonight, the building was already scorched in a past fire.

Coy, an elderly woman who lives in the next building, said she had seen “a girl and a dude” outside the unit and speculated that it was someone who had consistently set fires in the building. “Nobody’s been staying in there,” she said.

Robert Baumann, who called 911 from his unit in the building next door to the blaze, said fires have become commonplace at the Potrero Annex, and pointed out different nearby buildings that had seen fires just in the past several weeks.

Elias said that the building that burned tonight was vacant, and that the department has “had fire there before,” and problems with “known squatters.” By 8:30 p.m., the fire was under control.

The building, Elias said, was the site of a deadly January 2023 fire that killed one man — Richard Gescat. Gescat was staying in the abandoned building alongside others, and the public housing complex has seen persistent squatting problems since it began emptying out in preparation for demolition.

One of the firefighters on the scene Monday remembered being at the building two years ago, during the fire that killed Gescat.

Missouri Street winds between the Potrero Hill Recreation Center and the sprawling Potrero Terrace-Annex public housing complex, which has been the focus of intense scrutiny over its private management firm, Eugene Burger Management Corporation. The fire was near the intersection with Turner Terrace, a dead-end street.