Explosions in the Castro
I was sitting in my living room yesterday working and I heard a bunch commotion and a few big booms from outside. There's a lot of construction in the area so I didn't really think much of it. Then this helicopter kept hovering overhead, which also isn't that unusual but sometimes it means there's some kind of protest or march or something going on, so I turned around and this is what I saw.
Turns out there was a car accident in the middle of Castro Street in front of the theater. One of the cars flipped over and landed on the motorcycle parking lot along the side of the street, knocking one of them over and opening it's gas tank before it blew up. The burning gas quickly ran down the street in the gutter igniting each of the cars parked on the street downhill causing each explode one by one. At least six cars blew up before the fire department arrived an got it under control.
You'd think I'd have noticed 6 cars exploding across the street. It wasn't that loud though. It sounded more like The Flaming Lotus Girl's art or some sort of Burning Man fire installation, more of a woosh than a bang. I think at least one person in one of the cars involved in the initial accident didn't make it, there were flowers on the sidewalk today near where they were peeling melted car off the street.
Here's the SF Chronicle's article