John Whiteside checks in with the following report:
Fire Associates was paged at about 17:35 Saturday, June 6, to a house and barn fire at 514 Dougherty at Madrone, north of Morgan Hill. It was South County’s fire, but due to the size, San Jose, Santa Clara County, Gilroy and CalFire were also dispatched. Don and I counted 25 rigs, including the Helitender, 4 WTs, Hazmat (ammo and chemicals), Breathing Support 2, PLUS dozer 1640 and Copter 901 (106 currently in Sacto for 100-hour maint.).
Don Gilbert and John Whiteside responded in Support Unit 2 at about 17:45. Mike Chappell and John Whitseside picked up 75 burritos, loaded 13 cases of water, additional foam, and some Gatorade for FASCV. Mike was "on the clock" as Cal Fire Logistics.
We were asked about 22:00 if we could support P1624 (Arson) with lights for his investigation. We agreed and the two rigs stayed until 01:13, when we left. He remained until daylight to resume. While there, at his request, we “laid a line”, even though it was garden hose, from Unit #2 to put out a small fire in a destroyed RV that had rekindled. There was no other rig on scene with water. So, maybe we should rename our unit as Support/Light Unit/Patrol 2?
From the dispatching, Don and I concluded it should be considered a 4th alarm, at a minimum. The IC initially said he had 5 structures involved. The place was like an auto junk yard!! Only residence destroyed was the RV, no houses.
San Jose Mercury-News photos here: Morgan Hill Fire
Morgan Hill Times news story at this link: Ranch Fire
