S.F. street ‘gutted’ after pair of recent fires shutters beloved businesses 46%
By Anna Bauman2%
7/17/2026, 11:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Availability Heuristic, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 32.5% saturation with 282 hits. Analysis detected 1,950 faulty-reasoning hits from 869 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.4% and a BS Rank of 46% (11,157 of 20,537 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 54.30% of the article peer group.
Neighbors are still rattled after back-to-back commercial fires last month on Divisadero Street damaged an iconic San Francisco restaurant and a popular cafe a block away, temporarily shuttering both businesses in a blow to the neighborhood.
Flames at Che Fico in mid-June and The Mill about two weeks later both came from accidental oven fires that firefighters quickly contained, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
No one was injured and both buildings were saved.
But in a neighborhood where century-old wooden buildings are clustered tightly together, the incidents have raised fire safety concerns among residents and created economic hardship for local merchants.
The calamity has also highlighted a strong sense of community in the mixed-use neighborhood.
“We’re all impacted by it — this is our neighborhood,” said Kathy Drasky, a longtime resident who runs an Instagram page for hyperlocal news and events in the Divisadero Corridor.
“People are very proud of it, and a little possessive, and I think that because of that, people are very aware of what’s happened and concerned.”
The first incident happened around 3:30 p.m.
June 12 on Divisadero near McAllister Street, the fire department said.
Flames ignited in an oven flue at Foghorn Taproom before jumping next door to the roof of Che Fico, which sustained significant damage.
A family-owned natural foods grocery store and a boba shop nearby were evacuated and temporarily closed as firefighters battled flames from the rooftop.
About two weeks later, a Divisadero bartender was getting off their shift around 2:30 a.m. on June 29 when they spotted smoke around The Mill, a cafe that serves Four Barrel Coffee and Josey Baker Bread.
Another caller reported seeing an orange glow in a window, said Lt.
Mariano Elias, a fire department spokesperson.
Firefighters arrived in three minutes, entered the cafe and discovered fire in the rear of the building, which they prevented from spreading to adjacent residential and commercial buildings.
Elias said there was no connection between the recent fires, but stressed the importance of maintaining cooking equipment like ovens, where grease can build up over time and ignite when heated.
“Accidents do happen,” Elias said.
“I wouldn’t suggest that it’s a trend or that people need to worry.”
Other fires have shuttered Divisadero businesses in recent years, including Oasis Cafe, Kava Lounge and Banh Mi Viet, which has since reopened.
An August 2022 apartment fire displaced 13 residents.
In light of the most recent fires, Drasky said tenants and landlords alike should double-check building safety.
“We’re in close quarters over here,” she said.
“When something goes up in a fire, it endangers neighbors — it endangers the whole block at least.”
Both The Mill and Che Fico said they planned to rebuild but have not released respective timelines for reopening.
People stopped on the sidewalk outside The Mill on a recent weekday morning, peering at the locked doors, covered windows and sign thanking customers for their support.
Even weeks after the fire, the scent of smoke lingered on the brick front, single-story building, which was built in 1929.
Passersby expressed shock, sadness and disappointment over the temporary closure of their favorite coffee shop, a hub of community life.
One woman, accompanied by a small child cruising on a bike, said they come every day to check on the cafe.
“That’s his favorite place to go,” she said as the boy zoomed back up the sidewalk.
Another resident, Austin Peterson, said both recent fires made it feel like the neighborhood was “getting gutted.”
Josey Baker, whose fresh baked sourdough bread supplies The Mill and wholesale customers, said he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community.
People have donated more than $86,000 to a GoFundMe page made to help rebuild the cafe.
In the meantime, Baker said he has temporarily relocated his baking operation.
He gave away free loaves of bread outside The Mill last week in a show of gratitude.
“Believe me, nobody more than us wants to know exactly what happened and exactly what the future holds, so we’re hard at work figuring it out,” he said.
“But the reality is it just involves a lot of learning right now.”
Four Barrel, the coffee company at The Mill, said in an update on the GoFundMe page that it will keep two cafe managers employed during the rebuilding process, but had to temporarily lay off the rest of its baristas.
Next door at The Perish Trust, a gift shop selling vintage and handmade goods, owner Kelly Ishikawa said foot traffic on the block has plummeted since The Mill closed its doors.
Sales at the gift shop have dropped and Ishikawa said she has been trying to find ways to bring in more customers, such as hosting community events.
Fires are part of city living and represent yet another obstacle for small business owners, who learned during COVID how to constantly reevaluate and adjust their operations, Ishikawa said.
“They’re going to rebuild — it’s just a matter of how long it’ll take and if we’re going to be able to survive that,” she said.
“It’s going to be hard, but I’m going to make it work.”
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