Crews responded to the fire at the Seventh-day Adventist Church located at 2889 California St. in Lower Pac Heights at about 2 p.m. and were still on scene late Monday night.
UPDATE: 134-year-old San Francisco church grateful for firefighter response, no injuries in devastating fire
A shelter-in-place order was initially issued for several blocks on California Street as well as one block of Divisadero Street, but the order was lifted Monday evening. Two nearby homes were also evacuated but that order has also been lifted, officials said.
Monday afternoon, smoke could be seen pouring out of the San Francisco church as firefighters sprayed it down from a ladder truck. At one point, there were five ladder trucks being used by fire crews to fight the flames.
"Oh big flame coming inside and out, yeah it was scary, really scary," said Leticia Allen who lives nearby.
Neighbors watched as more than 100 firefighters worked to keep the flames in check as the church burned.
"Just billows of smoke coming up from here. I was at Alta Plaza Park, you could see it from there," said Matthew Cooper.
"We've been able to see the flames and the roof partially collapsed at one point," said Audrey Peck.
Video shows part of the roof collapsing, but fortunately, there were no injuries in the fire and no one has been displaced as crews were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.
The church had been undergoing construction, but it is not known at this time if that contributed to the fire. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation. The church was built in 1892 and was mostly wood.
By 10 p.m., the fire had been contained.
"The crews went in there, they were able to open up ceilings and walls, that means removing drywall, removing barriers, and they actually had active fire that they were able to extinguish," said San Francisco Fire Captain Jonathan Baxter.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie was there watching with the fire chief as the crew successfully got control of the flames.
Many are saddened at the loss of the church, which had a special pipe organ and once fed those in need.
"I have good memories of the church itself, especially the food," said one man. "We were poor at the time and so the food services really made an impact when I was 6 years old. Go in there every Saturday, have the big pot luck."
Captain Baxter said this was a fight with hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of gallons of water used.
Bay City News contributed to this story.