2 injured in San Francisco house fire near Golden Gate Park, officials say

Two people were hurt in a house fire in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood, where smoke billowed into the fog around 19th Avenue and Irving Street as firefighters brought the two-alarm blaze under control late Thursday.

It took two hours and more than 60 firefighters to rein in the blaze, which blackened a two-story home at 1242 19th Ave. and left a firefighter and resident with minor injuries, San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Jonathan Baxter said in a video update posted to social media around 11 p.m.

The city issued an advisory around 9 p.m. urging people to avoid the area as crews fought a one-alarm fire, which was upgraded to a two-alarm blaze a short time later, indicating that it was serious enough to require multiple crews.

About an hour later, Baxter took to social media to announce the injuries and remind people that the stay-away advisory remained in effect as the flames burned through the walls and into the attic.

The fire was deemed under control roughly two hours after it started, Baxter said in yet another online update after 11 p.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said. And the area remained blocked to through traffic for the time being.

Baxter said it’s important for people to remember to close but not lock doors behind them in the event of an evacuation so it slows the flames but allows firefighters to access the building and minimize property damage.