Fire breaks out in Parkmerced tower laundry room

San Francisco Fire Department rushed to Arballo Drive to put out fire

fire broke out in the laundry room of 310 Arballo Dr. tonight at around 6:20 p.m. 

The fire was caused by a single dryer in the laundry room. Two fire trucks showed up along with a few fire command vehicles. 

“The dryer’s been disconnected, de-energized,” said Scott Darmstadt, a San Francisco Fire Department battalion chief. “We’re working on removing any smoke from the basement area here.”

A resident, who asked to remain anonymous in fear of retaliation from Parkmerced, saw smoke coming out of a vent after coming home from getting groceries. After investigating, they saw heavy smoke through the laundry room’s glass door. 

“When the fire department got here, I’m the one that flagged them down,” they said. “My kids stayed outside, so I handed them [fire department] my key fob so that they can buzz into the room.” 

According to the resident, the laundry room was missing a functioning fire alarm.

“I’ve already made reports about people smoking in the stairwells and fire alarms not going off, smoke detectors not off,” they said. “There should be smoke detectors in that room, and there was no smoke detectors or anything that went off.” 

The fire caused no injuries, with residents returning inside once the fire was put out around 6:45 p.m. 

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