Explosion and fire at Mission gas station sends smoke plume over S.F.

"A fire struck a Shell gas station in the Mission District on Monday afternoon, rocking neighbors' homes and sending a thick, black plume of smoke across the neighborhood. Firefighters were on the scene. San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen Dean Crispen said adjacent buildings were evacuated, and that there were no reported injuries."

"Silvers was "sitting in the kitchen" of her apartment on 16th Street when she "heard a very large sound," she said. "It felt like an earthquake, so I went online and saw if anyone else was talking about an earthquake and they weren't," she said. Silvers heard a helicopter buzzing overhead, walked over to her front window, looked out below, and "saw a massive fire" at the Shell at 400 Guerrero St."

A fire struck a Shell gas station at 16th and Guerrero in the Mission District Monday afternoon, producing a thick plume of black smoke that spread across the neighborhood. Firefighters responded and extinguished the blaze by about 5 p.m. Adjacent buildings were evacuated and no injuries were reported. Neighbors reported hearing a large explosion that felt like an earthquake, and one resident saw a helicopter overhead before observing the massive fire. Construction equipment at the site was damaged, with the bottom half of an excavator singed black. The cause of the fire and the excavator operator's condition remain concerns.

Read at Mission Local