| Character of buildings | Buildings destroyed |
|---|---|
| Wooden framed buildings | 24,671 |
| Brick—Classes B and C | 3,168 |
| Brick and wood (unclassified) | 259 |
| Fireproof—Class A | 42 |
| Stone | 15 |
| Corrugated iron (wooden frame) | 33 |
| Total | 28,188 |
[5] General Greely quoted the chief of the Census Bureau as giving 185,000 as the population of the burned area in 1900.
Striving to reach the Ferry Building
In Union Square, soon to be swept by flames
The Morning of the Disaster
The burned area[6] had a land front of 49,305 feet, or 9.34 miles, and a water front of 9,510 feet, or 1.80 miles, the total being 58,815 feet, or 11.14 miles. Facing this line on the unburned side were 527 buildings, of which 506 were wood, 18 brick, one stone, one adobe, and one corrugated iron. Thus the fire was stopped against a wall of buildings, 96 per cent of which were wood. About 20 per cent of the frontage was on wide streets, and the remainder, 80 per cent, on streets of ordinary width.
Apart from the larger business houses, the public buildings, and some of the residences of the wealthier citizens, the burned buildings, including the smaller hotels and lodging houses, were built of wood. Their destruction was complete. There was practically no salvage of value from the small wooden dwellings, destroyed as they were by the fire and not by the earthquake.