CHARLES M. MCCARTHYCharles M. McCarthy, Lieutenant - January 30, 1942 (#95)
Engine Co. No. 28 - 1814 Stockton Street

McALISTER AUTO AGENCY FIRE - 1200 VAN NESS
Box 3161 – Van Ness Avenue & Post Street
FOURTH ALARM

Appointed June 27, 1927

Assigned to Engine Co. No. 12, 1924
Assigned to Engine Co. No. 16, 1925
Assigned to Engine Co. No. 20, 1929

Appointed Lieutenant, March 23, 1939

Assigned to Engine Co. No. 28

500 AUTOS PERILED IN FOURTH ALARM FIRE ON VAN NESS.
FOUR STORY MCALISTER BUILDING SWEPT BY FLAMES.

1942 January 30

Five hundred new and used automobiles menaced by a stubborn four alarm fire late last night at the James W. McAlister auto distributor company building, 1200 Van Ness Avenue.

The blaze, of undetermined origin, broke out in a rear repair shop on the first floor. It was confined mostly to the ground floor, although dense smoke billowed up through the four story building, clouding each floor. Firefighters were forced to use gas masks.

CARS DESTROYED.

Several vehicles in the repair shop were reported destroyed. No estimated damage was immediately available.

Two night janitors on duty, E. W. Gillilan and Loren Peterson, said they were just turning on the radio to listen to a program when they suddenly discovered the repair shop to be ablaze.

INVESTIGATION STARTS.

Police were investigating the possibility incendiarism. Underwriter crews, on arriving, hastily spread tarpaulins to protect the cars from smoke and water damage.
Source:  San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, 30 January 1942, Friday, Page 15.

DEATHS

McCARTHY – In this city, January 30, 1942

Lieutenant Charles J., loving father of Charles McCarthy, devoted son of Ellen and the late Charles McCarthy, loving brother of Mrs. Alice Payne, John Joseph and Ralph McCarthy. A native of San Francisco, a member of the Widows and Orphans Aid Assn., S. F. F. D. and David Scannell Club.

Funeral Monday at 9 a.m., from Chapels of Arthur J. Sullivan & Co., 2254 Market St., between Fifteenth and Sixteenth, then to St. Phillips Church, where a Requiem High Mass will be offered at 9:30 a. m. Internment Holy Cross cemetery
Source: San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, 31 January 1942, Saturday, page 13.

Extracted from original sources with grammar and spelling as published.

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