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A five-alarm fire engulfed a San Francisco apartment building on Thursday. (Photo: ABC News | More photos at end of post)

San Francisco‘s first five-alarm fire in eight years sent people running for their lives and huge flames completely engulfed an apartment building in the Western Addition neighborhood.

High winds spread the blaze spread to three adjacent    structures, including a school, a single-family home, and a large apartment complex.

•    A five-alarm fire engulfed a San Francisco apartment building and spread to three other structures.

•    A total of 32 dwellings were destroyed, with more than 60 people left homeless.

•    More than half of the city’s firefighting force was at the scene. It took them three hours to get the blaze under control.

•   Officials have not yet determined what started the fire. It remains under investigation.

The fire was reported just before noon, according to ABC News coverage reported by the local KGO affiliate news team.

The blaze started in a three-story, wood-framed Victorian-style apartment building at 1502 Golden Gate Avenue.

“I ran in and called 911, told them our building was on fire because I didn’t know where it was,” apartment manager Richard Lenhart said. “I could see the smoke coming in at the north end of the building through one of the windows.”

When firefighters arrived, high winds already had spread the flames to another apartment building  at 1015 Pierce Street, on the corner of Golden Gate Avenue, fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said. It later spread to an adjacent school and single family home.

Residents didn’t have time to grab any belongings before they escaped from the burning buildings. They had to run for their lives as huge flames tore through their apartments. All of the residents and most of the pets were quickly accounted for, but one cat was missing. Firefighters later found the cat deceased inside of the building.

It took 150 firefighters — half of the city’s daytime force, according to Hayes-White — more than three hours to get the raging fire under control, Hayes-White said.

“It was a challenging fire to fight, but given the time of day, it was actually helpful because most people were out of their dwellings,” the chief told CBS News.

The blaze that was so hot and intense that firefighters couldn’t get to the top floor of the Golden Gate condos to search for trapped residents, Hayes-White told the San Francisco Chronicle. Firefighters attacked the flames from the roof of the apartment building on Pierce Street before they drenched the building with water, the chief said.

“If you don’t make an aggressive attack, it is likely you will lose the entire block,” she said.

Eventually one of the fire commanders ordered all firefighters and police out of the buildings because it appeared the structures were about to collapse, police captain Denis O’Leary told SF Weekly.

“I have not seen anything like this in years,” O’Leary said.

One civilian and one firefighter were transported to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, according to the KGO report. Another firefighter suffered a minor burn injury on his neck and also was hospitalized.

The Creative Arts Charter School was closed for winter break, so no students or teachers were in the building. The school suffered water damage from sprinklers and blown-out windows, according to the Chronicle.

A total of 32 dwellings were completely destroyed, according to CBS. More than 60 people were left homeless, with all of their belongings destroyed just three days before Christmas. The Red Cross was helping residents displaced by the fire.

Mayor Ed Lee came to the scene and promised that the city would do everything possible to support displaced residents.

“We will be here all night helping every family,” he said.

Officials have not yet determined what caused the fire to start.

Here are more photos of the fire. Click on a link to see the image full-size.

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Six-alarm fire at Macro Plastics plant near Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield (Photo: Vacaville Reporter) Click photo to see full size.

A shelter-in-place order was issued Tuesday after a massive six-alarm fire broke out at a plastics plant near Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield.

A thick plume of black smoke rose 9,000 feet into the air as firefighters struggled to control the blaze.

Watch live ABC News video until the fire is extinguished.

•   A six-alarm fire broke out at 1 p.m. in a plastics plant located 2 miles from Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield.

•   The dark black smoke plume rose 9,000 feet in the air.

•   A shelter-in-place order was issued throughout a 1-mile radius of the plastics plant.

•   The blaze appeared to be contained at around 4:15 p.m. but it still was burning and thick smoke still filled the air.

(A) Travis AFB | (B) Macro Plastics

The fire erupted at aroound 1 p.m. at Macro Plastics plant located at 2250 Huntington Drive, according to a report in the Vacaville Reporter. The plant is less than 2 miles from the center of Travis AFB.

The fire appears to have broken out in an open-air storage area at the rear of the warehouse. The five-acre space contained 20,000 agricultural containers stacked about 20 feet high.

The burning plastic containers released a plume of toxic smoke that could be seen as far away as Sacramento, Stockton, San Andreas and most of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The containers are “macrobins” used by major California fruit packing companies for harvesting, shipping and storing fruits and vegetables. They are manufactured from polyethylene and polopropylene.

Macro Plastics public information officer Margana Yahnke compared the plastic bin fire to a tire fire.

“It’s carbon-based material that’s burning, and we’ve seen tire fires that can burn for days,” Yahnke said. “I don’t anticipate this will take that long at all, however, it will take a lot of water and a lot of time.”

ABC News reporters said in a video report that polyethylene and polopropylene particulates in the smoke could harm local residents who have any sort of breathing problems, including asthma.

The Solano County Environmental Health Services agency issued a shelter-in-place order, effective throughout at least a 1-mile radius of the plant.

Air quality and environmental health officials were at the scene but could not yet estimate the nature or severity of toxic problems the blaze and smoke may cause.

There were 45employees inside the plant when the fire started, the Fairfield fire marshal told KSBW News. All of them were evacuated and have been accounted for, the fire marshal said.

No burn injuries have yet been reported.

The health department didn’t yet know how many local residents had sought medical treatment at emergency rooms due to problems related to the fire. That information is not likely to be available for several days.

Fifty firefighters were on the scene and were expected to battle the fire well into the night, the fire marshal said. All local residents are advised to stay inside their homes with windows closed and air conditioning turned off.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Fairfield Fire Loss and Burn Injury Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented burn injury victims for 35 years.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.