Garbage Truck Fire Leads to Pile of Smoldering Trash on Street In Mission District

A literal garbage fire on Thursday morning which apparently started on a garbage truck led to the closure of a section of South Van Ness Avenue in SF's Mission District. Usually the dumpster fire/garbage fire jokes come during election weeks when the Republicans win. But on Thursday morning, jokes aside, there was a garbage truck fire in the Mission District that led to a pile of burning trash being dumped in the middle of the street. As the SF Fire Department said on Xitter , this was happening on South Van Ness Avenue between 16th and 17th streets, and drivers were being told to avoid the area as of 10:21 am Thursday. "Unknown cause at this time but a good reminder to safely dispose of batteries," the department said, suggesting that this was a suspected battery fire that ignited on the garbage truck. The department linked to this Recology web page , reminding us that dead batteries should go into a clear plastic bag and placed on top of your closed black/gray bin. It's not clear at this time when the situation will be cleaned up on South Van Ness.