On Monday afternoon, Barbara Shew stood across the street from the home she and her husband had lived in for the last 50 years in the Richmond District, near 26th Avenue and Geary Boulevard. “Everything,” she said in Mandarin, “is gone.”
Shew did not feel like talking to a reporter, she said. From the house’s yard, a younger woman carried a blue IKEA bag full of possessions past a pile of burnt furniture and a melted microwave.
Last Friday around 2 p.m., a one-alarm fire broke out here, killing Shew’s husband, Albert, a 91-year-old Air Force veteran. Barbara Shew wasn’t home at the time of the fire. Albert Shew used a wheelchair, and his restricted mobility likely made it more difficult for him to evacuate from the house when the fire started.
Little was known about the couple; few neighbors were home to speak. Barbara Shew visited the Richmond Senior Center frequently during its lunch hours, staff said. Albert, because of his wheelchair, went less often.
Their house was across the street from Fire Station 14 on 26th Avenue. Dispatch received a call reporting the fire at 2:11 p.m. and were able to respond within minutes, but were unable to save Shew. The fire was fully contained by 2:30 p.m., according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
Videos released by the fire department of the home’s interior after the fire was extinguished showed heavy damage in the kitchen, where the cabinets were charred and the dishwasher exterior was melted.
The fire also caused damage to the exterior of an adjacent building, according to the fire department’s post on X, but firefighters prevented it from spreading further.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.