Late Monday morning, a one-alarm fire broke out at Mason Pacific (1358 Mason St.) Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident, but the restaurant, which opened in 2013, will be closed for a few weeks while it undergoes repairs.
Yesterday, a construction crew working across the street at a San Francisco Housing Authority complex noticed smoke coming from the building at 998 Pacific Ave. (which is a different address, but the same building as the restaurant) and made the initial call for assistance.
The SF Fire Department tweeted it was on the scene just after noon, and that smoke was located in the ground-floor restaurant.
#WF998 UPDATE Water on the Fire making progress also, SMOKE LOCATED in Restaurant Next door to 998 Pacific 1207 pic.twitter.com/7bYFfcO5wN
— San Francisco Fire (@sffdpio) March 7, 2016
According to another tweet at 12:19pm, SFFD had determined that the fire was contained, and that there were no injuries or displacement caused to the residential units on the second floor.
Shannon Thomson, one of the restaurant's owners, says it's still unclear how the fire started, but it's being investigated. It appears the fire started in the basement and worked its way up to the kitchen, "but there was no damage to the dining room, other than the smoke that has permeated throughout the room."
Damage to the side door of the restaurant on Pacific Avenue.
One employee showed up for his cleaning shift and was asked to go home. Fire and water damage abatement crews were also on the scene in the afternoon, working to secure the building; SFFD had to break through the front door of the restaurant, as well as the side door on Pacific Avenue, to gain access to the fire.
Thomson told us that she was "grateful that no one was in the restaurant at the time of the fire, and all are safe."
Debris from the kitchen on Pacific Avenue.
The restaurant will be "closed for a few weeks" to clean everything up, Thomson told us, but the hope is to open again as soon as possible.
"We send our sincerest thanks to our regular guests for their support during this this tough time, and we look forward to being back up and running very soon," she said in a statement. We'll keep you updated on when Mason Pacific reopens.
