The fire at a Mission Buddhist temple residence near 22nd and Capp streets on Tuesday left four residents displaced, of 15 living in the adjacent building, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
The fire hit the residential Victorian adjoining the temple. No residents were injured, though one firefighter suffered minor injuries. Both cats living in the building were safe, according to the nuns. The cats had not been eating since the fire, one nun said. The firefighters rescued one cat, and the other hid under a bed on the third floor.
The Victorian-style residential building, adjacent to the Buddhist temple Hua Zang Si, which opened in 2004, suffered “extensive damage,” according to the fire department. The department described the structure, which is clad in the same distinctive red-and-black colors as the temple, as the “residence” of Hua Zang Si.
The cause of the fire was “accidental” and was associated with construction work, the fire department confirmed on Wednesday. As flames engulfed the second floor of the residential building, viewers could see scaffolding between it and the temple. The residence received a building permit in late September for re-roofing, according to the Office of the Assessor-Recorder.
American Red Cross volunteers were on scene on Tuesday evening and provided blankets, water and personal hygiene kits.
Around noon on Wednesday, the block on 22nd Street was quiet, except for the sound of shovels moving debris off the sidewalk into a truck in front of the residence. Windows on the first and second floors of the building were boarded up in plywood, as was the front gate of the temple.
About a dozen nuns, volunteers and workers separated debris into two piles: One for broken wood, and the other for anything they could salvage. The miscellaneous items included pots, a box of cashews, and avocado-oil spray.
Wearing gloves, they dug out clothes hangers, plastic containers, laminated documents and books still soaking wet. “These are all important writings,” one nun told this reporter in Mandarin, as she put them on a dolly to move into the backyard.
A disciple, who has been studying at the temple for more than 20 years, drove up from the South Bay on Wednesday to help out. “Let’s not think about the negative,” she said. “At least everyone is safe. The stuff is just material things.”
A dozen nuns were having an evening study session at the temple around 5 p.m. on Tuesday when someone frantically rang the doorbell asking everyone to evacuate, according to one of the nuns.
“None of us were in the building when the fire broke out, because we were having our lesson,” said one nun in Chinese. “It was a blessing in this unfortunate event.”
Even on Wednesday, as nuns cleaned up the mess in front of the boarded-up house, they tried to remain optimistic, a Buddhist practice. “When things happen, you just face it.”
“Just build it!” means burning Buddhist nuns out of their homes.