60 left homeless by San Francisco apartment fire  December 22,
2011 - 10:45 PM San Francisco Fire  San Francisco firefighters
climb down from a ladder at an apartment fire in the Western
Addition area of San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP
Photo/Jeff Chiu)  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As many as 60 people were
left homeless Thursday by a San Francisco apartment building
fire that took firefighters nearly three hours to control, Fire
Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.  The five-alarm blaze engulfed
three buildings before 150 firefighters, or about half the
department's daytime firefighting force, were able to bring the
fire under control around 3 p.m., Hayes-White said.  The blaze
sent one firefighter to the hospital with a burn to the neck,
and a civilian was treated for mild smoke inhalation, Hayes-
White said. A second firefighter, originally reported as
hospitalized, was given oxygen at the scene.  "It was a
challenging fire to fight, but given the time of day, it was
actually helpful because most people were