The weather last night was uncommonly warm, fog-free, and wonderful for the City’s annual July Fourth fireworks display, and Bernal Hill was packed with spectators to watch the show.
The official fireworks went off without a hitch, but later in the night, some of the unofficial pyrotechnics went awry. Just as feared, someone touched off a brush fire on the eastern side of Bernal Hill.
Thanks to Neighbor Bernard, for capturing the dramatic photos you see above.
I visited the scene this morning, and I’m relieved to report that the burn zone was actually relatively modest in size:
Whew! We got lucky, and we can all be grateful that the San Francisco Fire Department is so damn good at doing their job.
This is also all the more reason to show Bernal Hill some extra love on Saturday by participating in the Bernal GO Team’s hillside cleanup, starting at 10 am… because the alternatives look much, much worse.
The playground behind the Bernal Heights library is extremely popular, but a sad combination of meathead vandalism and bureaucratic neglect have combined to make the playground a less happy place.
Over the weekend, Neighbor Ron wrote to Bernalwood about the latest affront:
One of the child swings is missing from the playground.
UPDATE: In the comments below, a Bernalwood reader helpfully informs us that the swing was not vandalized this weekend; instead, it was cut by the San Francisco Fire Department in order to rescue an older child who had gotten stuck in the kiddie swing. Thank you, Reader Adam!
Business is booming at Ichi Sushi on Mission Street. The critical accoladeskeep coming, and there’s always a crowd at the door waiting to get in. That’s great news for Chef Tim Archuleta and his wife Erin, and Bernalwood couldn’t be happier for them — except for the fact that as Ichi’s fame has grown, it’s gotten steadily harder to get a table, especially on a Friday or Saturday night.
But last night was a Wednesday, and when a visiting friend declared that she wanted sushi, I saw my opportunity: Ichi! Midweek! On a Wednesday night! Yessss!
And so, with dreams of a friendly spot at the sushi bar swirling in my head, Bernalwood fired off an enthusiastic tweet to Ichi to warn them of our impending arrival. Ichi’s response caught us by surprise:
@Bernalwood bomb threat on mission. We were evacuated.
Yes, the San Francisco Police Department had cordoned off several blocks of Mission Street between Cortland and Virginia. The Bomb Squad was at the scene, along with several units from the San Francisco Fire Department. It seems a suspicious briefcase was found abandoned near a bus stop on Mission, and our City’s law enforcement authorities decided to err on the side of caution.
Happily, it all turned out to be a false alarm. The suspicious briefcase posed no threat, and after about an hour of nervous anxiety, the SFPD declared an all clear. The police tape came down, Mission Street reopened, and Chef Tim scrambled to recall his staff from the nearby Rock Bar, where they had wisely chosen to take shelter.
We're back open! Come have a kanpai with us, as we celebrate that the bomb scare was a whole lotta nothing — WHEW! Open 'till 10 tonight.
Bernalwood arrived at Ichi a short time later, by which point the place was already packed — as if the whole bomb scare thing had never happened. Blessedly, a space opened up after about 10 minutes, and our fantasy of snagging a coveted space at the bar finally came true.
All clear, indeed.
PHOTOS: Top, Rachel Leibman. Below, Jeremy Fitzhardinge
When we last saw Bernal resident and Alemany Farmers Market celebrity musician Jackie Jones, she had just completed a glamorous cameo in a new music video by Thao Nguyen. Yet during a visit to the Farmer’s Market last weekend, Bernalwood was sad to learn that Jackie is out of commission after suffering a fall that left her with a broken foot and a hurt knee.
The accident happened two months ago, we are told, and Jackie is recovering well. With luck, she’ll be back in action within a few weeks. But in the meantime, another awesome Bernal Neighbor was out on Saturday with a big pad of paper and a set of markers, encouraging Jackie’s many Junior Fans to write get well notes for her.
Of course, Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter is a member of the Precita Valley Chapter of the Jackie Jones Fan Club, so she was eager to send Jackie get-well vibes:
And while the Cub Reporter added a bonus rainbow, Bernalwood supplied our best wishes as well:
On behalf of all the Citizens of Bernalwood, we hope you feel better soon, Jackie! The Farmer’s Market is great, but it just isn’t the same without this:
Chalk this up as one of those things that could have been really really really really bad, but instead turned out to be just dramatic and messy.
Yesterday afternoon, a fire broke out on the grassy hillside behind the Ellsworth Street projects, just east of the Alemany Farm, facing I-280. The San Francisco Fire Department responded to the blaze with an impressive display of manpower and specialized equipment, such that no homes were lost in the fire, and (according to the SFFD scanner) only two houses were slightly damaged.
Neighbors Evan and Anne, who took the photos you see here, bring the summary:
There was a fire today on the hillside south of Bache & Andover Streets. Thanks to quick action of many neighbors and the SFFD, serious property damage was averted.
On April 11, there was a residential fire on Holliday. It wasn’t a huge fire — but no such thing as a small one either. Though damage to the home was blessedly modest, the hassles and stresses have been significant for the family that lives there.
Happily, the Citizens of Bernalwood have been doing the neighborly thing by helping the family recover from the blaze, and as you can see, their efforts have been recognized in the form of a giant thank-you note written on the damaged home’s plywood-covered garage.
Strong winds took down a tree on Eugenia at Elsie yesterday, and Neighbor Emily commends the Forces of Nature for carefully avoiding the vehicles that were parked nearby:
How lucky this car and scooter were that the tree and wind had some foresight!
As you can see, the scooter was avoided entirely, while the Saab seems to have suffered damage only to its aerodynamically ineffectual (and asethetically dubious) rear spoiler. Bernalwood will chalk this up to Nature’s Plan.
KTVU-TV did a nice follow-up piece on this week’s art-exhibit fire at the Queen’s Nails Gallery on Mission Street. (Click the image above to watch the video)
Executive Summary: Significant WTF factor from all parties involved. The San Francisco Fire Department is not at all amused. The gallery owners may face arson charges.
A fire broke out last night at the Queen’s Nails Gallery on Mission Street in Bernal Heights, and the blaze was caused by an art project that went very, very — very — wrong.
According to the Queen’s Nails Facebook page, the gallery was in the process of “placing 50,000.00 matches into the wall so [artist] Claire Fontaine can burn the map of the US.”
With a plan like that, what could possibly go wrong? A person who was inside Queen’s Nails tells Bernalwood:
I was at the gallery on Mission tonight right before the fire started, and I witnessed the entire thing.
The fire was the result of an art installation gone awry. The piece that started the fire was an installation (called “burnt/unburnt”) by French artist Claire Fontaine which was in the final stages of preparation for the opening tomorrow night. The piece was made up of 50,000 matches stuck into a wall in the shape of the United States which would then be lit on fire. I have no knowledge of the fire-proofing that takes place but there is certainly a large degree of preparation involved in order to prevent accidents like tonights from occurring.
Here is the same installation as the one in Queen’s Nails, as seen at a previous show at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art:
Here is how the installation is supposed to look when executed properly (shown here with a map of France):
I was at the gallery when the fire broke out. It was slow-going to attach 50,000 matches, and the show had already been pushed to opening Wednesday night instead of its original date of this past Saturday.
I arrived just as the first matches were being lit. There was a hose ready in the gallery and fire extinguishers around in case things got out of control– I remember feeling relieved to see that. Everyone had their iPhones and camcorders out to document the slow burn of the piece. At first, when the map was lit on fire (intentionally), it burnt slowly and was rather gorgeous.
However, within about 15 seconds of burning, something went wrong and the flame began to surge out of control. We were not sure if it was part of the art piece… however, soon the smoke was billowing over the entire crowd and the sulphur was so hot and thick that it hurt the lungs.
Someone yelled “EVERYONE OUT!!!” and the small crowd stumbled out the front door on Mission Street. The smoke was so thick and yellow that one couldn’t see.
The fire was quickly put out by the hose and extinguishers, but the heat must have been so intense that it continued to steam for a long time afterwards.
At first when the fire trucks showed up, I wondered if they were an intended part of the ‘performance,’ but I was quickly informed that it was DEFINITELY not part of the piece. After sticking around for a short while, it seemed that things were under control. The large amount of smoke came from the matches, but in reality there was barely a fire at all… I just feel sorry for the folks who run the gallery. They were really upset and I can’t imagine what they are going to have to deal with.
Incredible. We can all be grateful that the fire was quickly brought under control, and that no one was hurt. We can also assume that much more will be said about this incident in the days ahead.
Very special thanks to all the neighbor-reporters who provided us with such superb coverage of this story. Great work, people.
UPDATE 1/23 5 pm: Queen’s Nails has been posting about the incident on their Facebook page.
One request seeks to keep documentation about the fire offline:
Please do not post any images or videos of Burnt/Unburnt anywhere on the Internet.Thank you, Queen’s Nails.
In regards to the Claire Fontaine installation of “America (Burnt/Unburnt)” at Queen’s Nails, we would like to assure the community that the utmost precaution was taken during the controlled burning of the piece and that the flame was at no time out of hand.
The burning of the piece, which was not open to the public, has been done by Claire Fontaine seven other times in various venues across the world with the same concerns and care taken into regard.
Due to inadequate ventilation, there was a large amount of smoke coming from the front of the gallery which caused onlookers to call the SFFD. Upon their arrival, there was absolutely no flame burning in the building.
We would like to thank the SFFD for their efforts to help us ventilate the remaining smoke from the gallery. We appreciate their dedication and hard work to ensure that the gallery and onlookers were safe.
Any questions pertaining to the specifics of the installation could be directed towards Claire Fontaine at their artist talk this evening at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at 7pm. Inquiries regarding the exhibition as a whole can be directed to the gallery at queensnailssf@gmail.com.
We apologize to the community for any concerns they expressed and again would like to thank the fire fighters and officers for their assistance.
A Mission Street art gallery may be in trouble after San Francisco firefighters responded Tuesday night to a fire intentionally set there, apparently as part of an art piece, a fire official said today.
Firefighters responded around 10 p.m. Tuesday to Queen’s Nails, a gallery located at 3191 Mission St. in the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, Deputy Fire Chief Mark Gonzales said. […]
Gonzales said, “This was something we would not permit if it was applied for. It was done more out of ignorance, not maliciousness, as far as we’re concerned.”
He said the Police Department and district attorney’s office will take over the investigation to determine if charges should be filed for the incident.
The fire, which was quickly put out after causing $5,000 in damage, was apparently started on a piece of art shaped like the U.S. and made of matches that was set ablaze, Gonzales said.
“It was a piece of art that this person had lit up thinking it was not a problem,” he said. “It turned out to be a problem.”
PHOTOS: From top: Exterior fire photos by Jeff Rueppel. In-process installation photo via Queen’s Nails Gallery on Facebook. Portland photo by PICA Press Corps, Interior photo by Bernalwood witness
It probably wasn’t intended as a science experiment, but a big tree fell on the 300 block of Virginia during the wee hours of this morning, taking out a fence along the way. Neighbor Blair reports:
Apparently this tree fell at around 4:00 a.m. Thursday. According to neighbor, probably from lack of care, rather than due to storm.
UPDATE: The City sent a DPW crew to eat the fallen tree, and our local broadcast media decided that a fallen tree is so newsworthy that it warrants sending two satellite trucks to the scene:
UPDATE 2: KGO-TV identifies City budget cuts, rather than Newtonian physics, as the cause of the tree’s collapse:
Owner Patricia Mahoric wasn’t injured and her house sustained only minimal damage. Nonetheless, she believes the incident could have been avoided if the city had responded to her repeated calls about the tree.
She says she noticed the tree was in bad shape and appeared to be dying back in May. Since then, she says she has been calling to get the city to come out and take care of it.
A Department of Public Works spokeswoman says Mahoric is right. She says Mahoric did everything correctly but because of severe budget cuts, the city has reduced the pruning cycle and there are now only three tree inspectors for the entire city.
A total of 11 people have been transported to the hospital for examination following a possible carbon monoxide poisoning incident Sunday night, according to a San Francisco Fire Department dispatcher.
The incident at 1223 Cortland St. was reported at 7 p.m. after a carbon monoxide detector sounded in the top apartment of a Bernal Heights duplex, the dispatcher said.
Eight adults and three children were evacuated from the building.
The patients had some carbon monoxide in their bloodstream and some residents experienced symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure such as headache and scratchy throat.
No word yet on the cause of the carbon monoxide leak. The Chronicle has the same story, only they report 14 victims were hospitalized.
UPDATE: The Chronicle adds additional information which suggests there may be less to this incident than meets the eye:
Fourteen partygoers were taken to the hospital late Sunday in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood after complaining of carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.
But only two people tested positive for having low levels of the deadly gas in their blood and no leak was found in the duplex unit at 1223 Cortland Avenue, said Mindy Talmadge, a fire department spokeswoman.
Firefighters arrived on scene at 7 p.m. and found 14 people outside the empty house and a blaring smoke alarm inside, Talmadge said.
The revelers complained of scratchy throats and were tested at the scene for carbon monoxide poisoning, Talmadge said. Only two people, one an elderly smoker, tested positive for the gas.
“There can be other reasons for CO readings in your blood – heavy smoking” Talmadge said. “There was evidence of a lot of cigarette smoking in the unit.”
The remaining 12 people may have suffered from psychosomatic symptoms, but were still taken to the hospital for evaluation, Talmadge said.
“I am not saying this is it, but sometimes when something is mentioned, people start thinking ‘My throat is a little scratchy,'” Talmadge said.
Firefighters, public health officers and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. workers spent four hours combing the house, but were unable to find any sign of carbon monoxide gas, Talmadge said.
There was more waterplay near Precita Park this morning. Neigbor Gabe reports from fashionable Alabama Street:
I was playing with my son at the Precita Park playground this morning when we saw a fountain of water spray from some street work they were doing on Alabama St. Turns out they were digging near a water main and hit the supply line. About 10 minutes later they managed to hammer a makeshift plug into the open pipe and stem the flow.
I talked with the foreman, and he mentioned that had they were close to hitting the water main which would have been far worse.
@Bernalwood here’s a pic of the cat stuck in the juniper tree at 147 Coleridge. Anyone have a 30ft ladder?
The dramatic coda came later this morning. Again, Neighbor Bahman reported from the scene:
Fire Department & Animal Control showed up. Once they approached on ladder, cat climbed down & bolted across the street.
Though the rescue attempt ultimately proved unnecessary, it’s still gives you the warm-and-fuzzies to know that the whole “firemen rescuing cats from trees” tradition is alive and well… even in the Big City, and even in 2012.
Bernalwood 