April 23, 2007 -- Sunnyvale 2nd-alarm Fire

Monday afternoon (Apr. 23, 2007 @ 16:57) Bob Gundrum and Len Williams
responded in Support Unit #1 to a 2nd-alarm fire in Sunnyvale at
1626 Ottawa Ct., off Kirkland.

The response by Sunnyvale's Dept. of Public Safety was for a vehicle fire
in a carport that extended to additional vehicles and the structure. The
carport was free standing at the rear of the address, which was a 2-story,
wood-frame structure. The carport was directly under high-voltage power
lines and was creating an exposure problem on both sides of the property
line. The fire address had a window that broke from radiated heat, and a
dumpster on the property behind the carport caught fire. Since the power
lines were above the fire, there was a possible second fire on the
adjoining property.

That being said, the fire was knocked down before a fire-resistive wall in
the carport was compromised. FASCV provided bottled water and Cliff Bars
and was released and back at the station by 18:30 hrs.

For more information on the fire, click on this news link to the
NBC 11 website.

-- Thanks to FASCV member Bob Gundrum for this information

"The Embers" Newsletter - May 2007

The May 2007 Edition of "The Embers" newsletter is now available on line.

June Meeting Site Announced

A very exciting meeting has been planned for our June monthly gathering. However, note the change from our usual meeting date. The June meeting will take place on Thursday, May 31.

This change has been necessitated by an offer from the Peninsula Fire Buff Club of San Mateo County. They have cordially invited us, and the Phoenix Society of San Francisco, to a joint buff meeting to be held at South San Francisco Fire Department’s Station 61, 480 North Canal Street, South San Francisco (Thomas Bros. Map page 707, H3).

The evening will start at 6:30 P.M. with a dinner provided by South City Fire. The program will follow at approximately 7:30 P.M. Our SSFFD hosts will be Chief Phil White and Deputy Chief Dick Dennen.

The program will feature a tour of the new Headquarters Station, Burn Tower demonstration, Fire prop attack, and a Canine Search & Rescue demonstration.

We wish to thank Bob Romanoff, president of the Peninsula Fire Buff Club, for this very generous offer. Bob requests that, in order to allow for planning of the dinner and evening, that we provide him with a headcount by Thursday, May 24.

If you plan on attending, provide your name to John Whitaker (jswhitak@pacbell.net) no later than May 23.

We look forward to a very special evening and invite you to join us.

May Meeting Site Announced

The FASCV monthly meeting for May will be held at Mountain View Fire Department's Station #4, 229 N. Whisman Rd., Mountain View, CA, 94043. Meeting time is 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, May 3, with invited visitors welcome.

Several members had expressed an interest in viewing Mountain View Fire’s Hazmat Unit, housed at Station 5. Mountain View Fire refers to this unit as “The HEAT Team”. However, Battalion Chief Steve Hawkes reports that the rig is currently “in the shop” and has suggested that Station 4 would be a better place for our group to meet. Station 4 houses Engine 4, Reserve Engine 6 and Reserve Truck 2. The last time our group met at Station 4 was in July, 2005.

Chief Hawkes has promised that, if the HEAT unit is in service, it will be brought over to Station 4 for our viewing. As an alternate program, he has offered to set up a display of Mountain View's Homeland Security-financed USAR and Hazmat trailers that are kept at Station 4.

Watch this blog for an announcement of a possible dinner location for some socializing before the meeting.

Cal Fire Announces Early Staffing

John Whiteside reports that, beginning April 15, Cal Fire will staff 5 engines for the north and east areas of SCU's responsibility. Copter 106 will be available as "bucket-only" that week. The following week, Copter 106 will be bucket and helitack crew. It's starting early this year!!!

April Meeting Site Announced

The FASCV monthly meeting for April will be held at the San Jose Fire Department Training Center, 255 S. Montgomery Street, San Jose, CA, 95110. The meeting will feature the presentation of two videos: 1) KNTV's feature on the "6 O'clock News" about John Whiteside's volunteer efforts for Cal Fire and FASCV, and 2) John's presentation at the SJFD “Chief’s Chat” that he and Don Gilbert recently attended. Also on the "menu" will be the introduction of FASCV's new on-line blog.

Meeting time is 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, April 5, with invited visitors welcome.

If you would like to join the group for dinner beforehand, Bob Gundrum says we will meet at 6:00 PM at Mexico Lindo Restaurant, 11 Race Street (off the Alameda) @ Martin. Come join the group.