Another Fatal Apartment Fire in San Francisco, This One in North Beach

For the fourth time this year, someone has been killed in an apartment fire in San Francisco.

Investigators are trying to figure out the cause of a one-alarm blaze in a three-story, 12-unit building in the city's North Beach neighborhood Thursday night.

The first call about the fire at 1050 Columbus Ave., near Francisco Street, came in at 10 p.m. It was brought under control 30 minutes later, fire officials said.

Firefighters pulled two elderly men from the building, San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said. Paramedics tried to resuscitate one of them, she added, but he died on the scene. The other man was treated for smoke inhalation but did not go to the hospital.

The fire does not seem to be suspicious, Talmadge said.

The building appears to be up to code. Talmadge said there were no access problems for firefighters or issues with the building's alarms. According to the Department of Building Inspection, the apartment was not cited in the last 15 years.

Supervisor Julie Christensen, who represents the area, issued a statement this morning expressing concern about the blaze.

"I am saddened for the loss of life and injury caused by this fire," Christensen said. "Along with the recent devastating fires in the Mission, this is a reminder to all of us to take measures to protect ourselves as well as our neighbors," she said.

The fire comes a month after a father and daughter were killed in an apartment fire in the Mission District. And it comes several months after a large blaze -- also in the Mission -- killed a man a few blocks away.

Those blazes led to more scrutiny of the fire safety of San Francisco's building stock.

This week KQED learned that a large fire in the Mission late last year destroyed a building that had no smoke detectors or sprinkler system.

Just like in the Mission District, Christensen noted that her district consists of densely populated neighborhoods with many apartment buildings.

The supervisor said she is working with city officials and the Red Cross to create a program that would help install free and subsidized smoke detectors to residents in her district.

"This program is one positive step toward preventing injury and the loss of life in case of fire," Christensen said.