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Another fire erupts under San Francisco’s Central Freeway

Firefighters spray water on a fire at the base of an elevated freeway support pillar.
San Francisco Fire Deparment firefighters respond Wednesday to a blaze at the base of a Central Freeway support pillar on Division Street between Potrero and Bryant streets. | Source: Astrid Kane | The Standard

Firefighters made quick work late Wednesday morning of the second fire under the Central Freeway in less than 24 hours.

Around 11:30 a.m., San Francisco Fire Department firefighters responded to Division Street between Potrero Avenue and Bryant Street for a report of flames rising from the base of a freeway support pillar.

SFPD responds to a homeless encampment that caught on fire on Division Street between Bryant Street and Potrero Avenue on December 20, 2023. | Source: Jesse Rogala/The Standard

When firefighters arrived aboard a fire engine, they found flames and thick smoke rising from an apparently abandoned encampment. There were no reported injuries or associated traffic delays either along Division Street or the Central Freeway lanes overhead.

A San Francisco Fire spokesperson told The Standard firefighters were initially dispatched to 13th and Bryant streets.

When Tuesday afternoon’s fire broke out at the base of a support pillar on Division between Ninth and Vermont streets, multiple fire engines and police responded to the scene before taking at least one person into custody.

Since Thanksgiving, a right-of-way team for Caltrans, which has responsibility for much of the property around and underneath highways, has been assessing freeways statewide for hazards and other issues in the wake of a massive fire that damaged a freeway in Los Angeles.