Up, up and away! But, carefully, please!

Not two hours earlier, I was walking along the sidewalk in front of this construction site...

Concrete wall threatening to fall from SF high-rise stabilized

At least 16 office buildings in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco were evacuated Wednesday afternoon as a malfunctioning crane in a 35-story skyscraper under construction threatened to topple a 2,000-pound wall of concrete, officials said.

People were evacuated from seven buildings on Howard Street, two on Tehama Street and one on Second Street shortly before 3 p.m. as a crane began leaning precariously into a concrete wall, putting the wall at danger of falling, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department.

The crane was located inside the 30th floor of 33 Tehama Street, between First and Second streets.

“If the crane falls, it could take the concrete wall down,” said Baxter. “The worst case scenario is we’re going to have some structural damage to one or more buildings below.”

He said another concern is that parts of the slab could ricochet and hit surrounding buildings.

Beware of walls of concrete which ricochet into surrounding buildings; yikes!