April 4, 2008 -- 4th-alarm Response for SJFD

Fire Associates was paged at 5:13 A.M. on Friday morning to a 4-alarm warehouse fire. Located at 850 Faulstich Ct., the large, metal building was a total loss. An unfortunate occurrence during the firefight was the discovery of a body shortly before sunrise.

This was one fire where Rehab was well-staffed by FASCV members. First on the scene were FASCV members Jerry Haag and John Whitaker, who were able to guide two Fire Support Units into the scene. Arriving in Support Unit 2 was Mike Chappell and arriving with Support Unit 3 were Don Gilbert and John Whiteside. All the help was necessary as the early morning hours meant that coffee and donuts were in great demand by the firefighters. Extra cookies were also provided by a nearby bakery outlet and, eventually, FASCV members delivered and served breakfast burritos.

Supporting on-scene FASCV members in spirit was Len Williams, who provided this e-mailed observation:

"It went to a 4th, but the 4th-alarm companies, consisting of a box-alarm assignment from the city of Santa Clara, went to staging at nearby SJFD Sta. 5.

I heard it come in (on my scanner) straight from the top. I've been getting up extraordinarily early for the past week (with another 10 days to go until Apr. 15), so I was up when it came in as a report of a warehouse on fire in the area of Oakland Rd. and Gish.

The first alarm companies called for a 2nd alarm almost immediately.

While on my way into the office, shortly before 6:00 a.m., I heard the San Jose news radio station air unit saying that it was pretty spectacular from where they were."

FASCV members were on scene until after the noon hour.

News stories can be viewed at: NBC11 and SJ Merc-News
John Whitaker's photos of the fire can be seen at: SJS - Warehouse Fire