The fire of ’06 burned 28,000 buildings and left over 200,000 San Francisco residents homeless—half the city’s population. Another 70,000-90,000 were without shelter in surrounding communities. People took refuge in any open space, in parks and vacant lots. Episcopal Bishop William E. Nichols witnessed the destruction of Grace Church at California and Stockton Streets , then fled to Lafayette Park which was, in his words, "black with people."

We sat there hour after hour saying little, but awed by the almost incredible panorama before our eyes. . . Over there on the hill a cloud of flame would swoop down with cyclonic force upon a whole block of frame buildings and engulf them as in a furnace.”

Missionary Donaldina Cameron, whose Home for Chinese Girls housed orphans and former "slave girls" of Chinatown took shelter the first night with her charges at the First Presbyterian Church at Van Ness and Sacramento:

At break of day the little band were hurriedly preparing for another march, the shelter of the night being no longer secure. Fire menaced from three directions... Never shall we forget the busy preparations made that Thursday morning for the long march to the Ferry. Many things carried so far must be left behind; much must be carried. Which to take, what to leave, and how to carry what we could not abandon, these and many more were the problems to be solved. Sheets were torn up for ropes and broom handles served for bamboo poles. Laughing in spite of their distress, the girls tried the vegetable peddler’s scheme with their bundles, and it worked well, for two bundles could thus be carried by one person.

Jack London  described the retreat for Colliers magazine:

All night these tens of thousands fled before the flames. Many of them, the poor people from the labor ghetto, had fled all day as well. They had left their homes burdened with possessions. Now and again they lightened up, flinging out upon the street clothing and treasures they had dragged for miles. They held on longest to their trunks, and over these trunks many a strong man broke his heart that night. The hills of San Francisco are steep, and up these hills, mile after mile, were the trunks dragged.

The scraping sound of dragging trunks remained in the minds of many survivors for years afterward.

Tens of thousands found refuge across the Bay in Oakland, where camps were set up around Lake Merritt, with a separate camp for 20,000 "Chinese, Japanese and other exceptional peoples." The Southern Pacific Railroad and ferry system transported refugees free of charge to any destination.

Official camps were constructed in short order in Golden Gate Park , the Presidio, Fort Mason  and city squares and parks . Wood structures included barracks, tents on wood platforms , and small frame "earthquake cottages."