5 More Bodies Found at Site of S.F. Blaze

The charred remains of five people who died in Friday’s explosion and fire at a one-block, three-story building in the Bayview Industrial Park were found Monday, fire officials said.

Officials said they now believe that nine people died in the $10-million blaze, instead of the seven originally believed killed.

The number of missing is not precise because the number of people in the building at the time of the disaster is still uncertain. The remains, extracted from rubble sometimes five feet deep, were burned beyond identification.

With relatives and friends of the missing looking on, firefighters spent most of the weekend and all day Monday looking for remains and pumping millions of gallons of water from a vast basement crater left after the fire.

Blew Off Roof

A massive explosion Friday blew off the roof of the building, a former cannery, and sparked a fire that burned the structure to the ground.

Two adjoining buildings were also leveled by the fire and 22 people were injured. In all, 125 shops and small buildings were wiped out.

Firefighters believe the explosion may have started in a cabinet shop where flammable lacquer was being sprayed.

Two people who were missing and reportedly in the building at the time were Frank Wallis, 32, an artisan who was spraying lacquer in a second-floor cabinet shop, and Bob Shoemaker, 28, who was assisting him.