Housing inspectors seek legal action

Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle

Senior housing inspector Jamie Sanbonmatsu points out merchandise blocking an emergency ladder in the Mission District, where apartment buildings are being scrutinized.A fire ladder is blocked in the Mission, where apartments are being checked.

Housing inspectors are seeking legal action against the owners of three apartment buildings in the Mission District for blocking fire escapes and having alarm systems that don’t work.

The request that the city attorney’s office pursue legal action comes soon after two deadly fires in the Mission and complaints that at least one of the burned buildings was for years in violation of safety code regulations.

Officials with the city’s Department of Building Inspection said the recent fires led them to reinspect residential apartment buildings along Mission Street for safety hazards and rush cases involving repeat violators to the city attorney.

“We are being very proactive and fast-tracking these types of cases to the city attorney,” said Rosemary Bosque, the department’s chief housing inspector.

This week, the department referred three cases to City Attorney Dennis Herrera for violations at 901-907 Valencia St., 2114 Mission St. and 2420 Folsom St.

Safety code violations at 901-907 Valencia, a 20-unit building at 20th and Valencia streets, date back to August, according to the department. The building has received four citations for missing and nonworking smoke detectors, a blocked fire escape and rotting wood that makes up the structural supports for a 40-foot stairway.

The 10-unit building at 2114 Mission, at 16th and Mission streets, has been the subject of two citations for a non-functioning alarm system, and chained and padlocked exits. The owner of that building also owns 2420 Folsom, a seven-unit building at 20th and Folsom streets. A housing inspector cited that building for having a nonfunctioning fire extinguisher and blocked fire escapes.

Yvonne Mere, chief attorney for the neighborhood and resident protection unit of the city attorney’s office, said three referrals in one day for safety code violations “is not an insignificant number.” Mere said the city attorney must review the referrals before deciding whether to file lawsuits against the owners.

The Mission has had an unusually high number of fires in recent months. In September, a fire engulfed a three-story building at 23rd and Mission streets.

In January, a fire at 22nd and Mission killed one man and left more than 50 low-income residents homeless. San Francisco fire inspectors found safety violations at the building — missing fire extinguishers, blocked fire escapes, inoperable smoke alarms and locked exits — that had gone unfixed for years.

Earlier this month, a fire on 24th and Treat streets left one man dead and injured his wife and three children.

Bosque said that since the fire at 22nd and Mission, investigators have been deployed to review safety code standards at 126 residential apartment buildings on Mission Street from Third Street to Geneva Avenue. She said cases involving repeat violations would be referred to the city attorney’s office for legal action.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen