Thursday, May 21, 2015

San Jose Firefighters Tackle Tier 2 Vegetation Fire

   
Photo By Craig Allyn Rose
In one of our earlier posts, dated May 20, the opening statement may have been in error. We forgot that there are actually 4 things that are certain in life:  1) you're born, 2) you die, 3) there will be a vegetation fire on Communications Hill, AND... 4) every fire season, Fire Associates will go to a grass fire on Remillard Court!
  
So, just like clockwork, on Thursday, May 21, in the early afternoon, FASCV was paged by the San Jose Fire Department to a grass fire on Remillard Ct. near its intersection with Story Rd. Grass and light vegetation was burning along the creek bed between Coyote Creek and the old Southern Pacific right-of-way. A Tier 2 response was eventually called as a fire in that location has the potential to spread to adjoining land.
  
Fire Associates responded with Fire Support Unit 2 with John Whitaker driving. He was met on scene by FASCV member Mike Garcia and the 2 of them drove up to the Command position on a bluff overlooking the fireground. Also on the ridge was Engine 13 and Water Tender 13.
   
But, as with most vegetation fires, the hard-working crews were down below trying to contain the blaze. With most of the wildfire in check, by this time, the crews were mainly spread out concentrating on hitting the hot spots. Because of this, Remillard IC, Rob Brown, saw no real need for any real rehab effort on the part of FASCV.
   
So, FSU-2 stayed on scene providing water and Gatorade to the Station 13 crew and then made sure all the crews had their hydration needs met as John and Mike left the area.
-- Report submitted by John Whitaker