The Northern California Carpenter - January 2012 Vol. 15 No. 1

Carpenter heroes save lives in five-alarm fire in San Francisco

Manuel Nevarez, Local 46, and other Carpenters reacted quickly to save lives.

What began as a normal day last month on a San Francisco school rehab job ended with a rush of adrenaline, as a crew of carpenters became first responders to San Francisco's biggest fire in years.

Around 11:30 a.m. on December 23, Bollo Construction crew members Nick Tooley and Eddie Marquez, both Local 46; Mylo Hale, Local 9109; and foreman Manuel Nevarez, Local 46, smelled the smoke coming from a three-story Victorian adjacent to the Creative Arts Elementary School in the Western Addition, where they were working.

"There was a lot of wind, so by the time we saw it, the smoke and flames were already coming out of the top story," said Nevarez. In a few minutes, the wood decking, wood siding and wooden stairs were up in flames.

"We saw people looking out their windows. The fire had spread so quickly, there was no way they could exit by the stairs," Nevarez said.

After calling 911, they were joined by a group of electricians and another carpenter who started up the fire escape to help people get out.

"We helped them move down," Nevarez said, "kind of relaying them down the stairs. There were kids, there were some people who were pretty panicked. ... It was crazy, the flames were spreading, gas lines were going off!

When he heard what he thought was a child crying, Nevarez grabbed a sledge hammer, broke through the security door and, with the other crew members, started breaking down apartment doors. Fortunately, the "child" turned out to be a cat being carried down the stairs by one of the crew.

"The first two apartments were already empty," Nevarez remembered, "but in the third, there was a guy who had worked a night shift and was sound asleep. We got him of there."

Once the San Francisco Fire Department arrived, the crew ran back to the school to save their tools and architectural drawings. On Monday, the crew was back on the job hurrying to get on schedule.

In the end, no lives were lost. But three buildings were destroyed, and 60 people made temporarily homeless.

"We were all kind of in a state of shock," said Nevarez. "The neighbors have been great. There have been a couple of banners put up, people coming by every day to say thanks. … But in the end, we did what we would have wanted someone to do for us and our families. It's just a reminder to treasure every day we have."