Photos, Video: Three-Alarm Blaze Behind Beach Blanket Babylon

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Courtesy of Sonya Yruel Photography.

This is why those rear units can be scary things, kids.

A three-alarm fire at a rear unit between Union and Green Streets in North Beach sent more than 95 firefighters scrambling around a four-block area looking for a way to get close and fight it.

Firefighters try to control a three-alarm blaze at a three-story building behind the Beach Blanket Babylon theater at around midnight Tuesday morning. Courtesy of Sonya Yruel Photography.

At around 11:20 p.m., units responded to fire reported in a three-unit building located in the 600 block of Green Street, San Francisco fire Lt. Ken Smith said.

Courtesy of Sonya Yruel Photography.

The units are set back from the street and were initially reported to be located on Columbus Avenue, Smith said.

Courtesy of Sonya Yruel Photography.

No injuries were reported as of 2:15 a.m., according to Smith, though seven residents were displaced and getting help from the American Red Cross to secure temporary housing. Very little additional information -- such as how many occupants were in the building or how the fire started -- was available.

Firefighters on Powell Street used ladders to get on top of adjacent buildings in attempts to get closer to the fire. Chris Roberts/SF Appeal

It took firefighters a few minutes of frantic searching before they could reach the burning building, which aerial photos reveal to be a rear unit accessible only down a parking lot off of Green Street. Flames were visible from Powell Street and smoke filled the neighborhood down to Washington Square Park long after the fire was under control. All in all, four units sustained significant damage, Smith said, and a neighboring building was slightly damaged.

Chris Roberts/SF Appeal

O'Reilly's Irish pub, a mere 150-200 feet away from the blaze? Stayed open throughout the whole episode, even as occupants of nearby buildings stood, in their PJs, clutching backpacks and laptop computers, waiting for the all-clear to go back inside.

Bay City News contributed all the real news in this report.

Courtesy of Sonya Yruel Photography.