Nov 18, 2008 7:31 pm US/Pacific
89-Year-Old Woman Dies In SF Russian Hill Blaze
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
-
-
Flames pour from the window of an apartment building on Union Street in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Andy Altman
An elderly woman was killed Tuesday in a fire at a family-owned condominium building she had lived in for decades in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, authorities and neighbors said.
The victim was identified as 89-year-old Susie Pugliese. Neighbors told CBS 5 that she was the matriarch of a well-known Russian Hill family whose roots in San Francisco dated back to the early 1900s.
The two-alarm fire broke out at 11:52 a.m. in the three-story building containing six condos at 1262-1264 Union Street, between Hyde and Larkin streets on Russian Hill.
About 75 firefighters battled the blaze, which was extinguished about an hour later at 12:41 p.m., fire Lt. Ken Smith said.
Joe Pugliese, the husband of the woman killed, was taken to St. Francis Memorial Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The deadly fire started on the second floor of the building and spread to the third floor, Smith said. It also damaged part of a neighboring building.
The residents of both buildings were displaced, Red Cross spokesman Aaron Litwin said. Thirteen people, including the victims, lived in the two buildings.
Jeff Bickel, 25, who lives with his girlfriend at 1264 Union Street, in the building where the fire started, said he heard the fire alarm going off in an apartment next door and then the alarm for the whole building sounded.
He said he smelled smoke and that when he opened the door to leave he saw "big flames in the hallway."
Bickel managed to escape but didn't have time to retrieve his cat. He had given his keys to firefighters and hoped they would find the pet. Litwin later said a cat was found in the building and he had not received reports of any injuries to animals.
Union Street remained blocked off throughout the afternoon while fire officials probed the cause of the blaze and a crowd of onlookers gathered across the street.
Michael Dewees, a resident of the adjacent building to where the fire broke out, waited nearby to see if he would be able to gather some belongings from his apartment.
He said he learned of the fire after hearing a neighbor yell from a unit in the condo building, where the fire broke out. Dewees called 911 and then went downstairs and outside.
Dewees also knew the Puglieses.
"Susie's about 89, I don't know how she could make it out. I really don't," he said. "She couldn't move around too well and she hadn't been out of the house in a year."
Rachel Dito, 81, who lives with her sister Rosanne a few buildings away from the fire site, said she was relieved when the fire was extinguished because she feared it might continue to spread.
But the pair then became worried when they did not see their neighbor Susie Pugliese exit from the fire building.
The two sisters said they had spoken with Susie Pugliese on the phone a short time before the fire broke out and knew the woman and her husband well.
"They've lived here all of their life, as kids they grew up here," Rosanne Dito said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
Click Here For July 4th Fireworks Guide
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
