News Pix: Mission Bay Fire, Fighting For Rare Redwood and Cat Cafe Debut

A five-alarm fire at Mission Bay destroyed a 172-unit apartment building under construction on Tuesday, March 11. Arson investigators are still searching for the cause of the fire. The burnt building is located on the west side of Fourth Street between Mission Rock and China Basin streets. At the height of the fire Tuesday evening, half of the roughly 320 firefighters on duty in the city were fighting the blaze. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)

The Fire Department reports two injuries in the blaze: a firefighter, one of the first on the scene, who suffered first- and second-degree burns to the face and hands, and a battalion chief who sprained an ankle. A 190-unit apartment building directly across Fourth Street from the fire remained evacuated Wednesday morning. Searing heat from the fire blew out windows in 30 units facing the blaze, triggering sprinklers. (Charla Bear/KQED)

About 200 students and teachers with the Save CCSF Coalition rallied Thursday, March 13, at the Community College of San Francisco main campus demanding the resignation of Special Trustee Robert Agrella, the reinstatement of City College’s elected board of trustees, and an end to a new payment policy requiring class fees to be paid upfront, at the beginning of the semester. The protest turned violent when students tried to enter the building, resulting in two arrests. (Alex Emslie/KQED)

City College student Otto Pippenger was detained by San Francisco Police Department officers outside an administration building. Students and teachers protesting decisions by Special Trustee Robert Agrella were stopped by campus and San Francisco police from entering the college's administration building on Thursday, March 13. (Alex Emslie/KQED)

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit announced Thursday, March 13 that it's delaying its planned removal of a super-rare chimera albino coast redwood in Cotati, pending additional expert analysis of the tree and study of alternatives to destroying it. The tree is located within the railroad right-of-way at East Cotati Avenue. The redwood in question is extraordinarily unusual on two accounts: It’s both albino and a chimera. The albino part of that description means, among other things, that its needles lack chlorophyll to give them their typical green appearance. Local historians and arborists have been raising awareness of the local treasure. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)

High winds in Berkeley created hazardous situations into the night Tuesday, March 11. Power lines in various locations were reported to be blowing around, with at least one down altogether. (Pete Rosos/Berkeleyside)

After more than a decade of success in Asian countries, particularly Japan, the adorable phenomenon of cat cafes, where patrons can enjoy coffee and a snack while watching frolicking kittens, is finally coming to the United States. The Bay Area's first cat cafe is likely to be either Oakland’s Cat Town Cafe or San Francisco’s KitTea — both of which are closing in on locations and should open by the end of the year, according to their organizers. Both are affiliated with rescue organizations, and both have used crowd funding to cover a substantial part of their startup costs. (Courtesy of: Adam Myatt)

San Francisco company City Grazing has goats for hire that will come and clear unwanted brush and plant life from backyards and public spaces. The herd recently grew with the birth of 49 kids. The company now keeps about 100 goats at a rail yard in Bayview. This Sunday, City Grazing is welcoming the public to visit the baby goats from 12-4 p.m. at 100 Cargo Way. (Olivia Allen-Price/KQED)