Monday, March 3, 2014

2-Alarm Almaden Valley House Fire Causes Yet Another FASCV Response

 
Photo By John Whitaker
A string of unrelated house fires and garage fires seems to be continuing in the Santa Clara Valley.

On Monday, March 3, firefighters were yet again summoned to a garage fire. Located at 6029 Burchell Ct. in the Almaden Valley area of San Jose, a garage was fully engulfed by the time the first-arriving rigs got on scene. Flames were rolling out of the garage door and smoke was reported coming out of the eaves on all 4 sides of the structure.

Not helping matters was the fact that the fire was being fueled by leaking gasoline cans. Firefighters had to deal with the burning fuel that was running down the driveway and burning in the street gutter in front of the structure. Also of immediate importance was structure protection for the house next door on the "Delta" side of the blaze. In addition, the driveway was occupied by a Dodge pick-up truck with a dirt bike in its bed, a Harley-Davidson-type motorcycle, a quad cycle, and a jet ski on a small trailer.

Photo Courtesy of the San Jose Fire Dept.
A collapsed, tile roof over the garage made the fire difficult to fight and increased the time needed for overhaul. During the overhaul, fire crews were kept busy dealing with the smoldering underlayment beneath the Spanish tiles and putting foam on the remaining, unburned fuel.

At 10:10 A.M., a call was made for Fire Associates assistance as it was clear that the long overhaul process would be extending into the lunch hour. Don Gilbert and John Whiteside quickly went to SJS Station 6 and got Fire Support Unit 2, while John Whitaker responded to the fire scene. Once on scene, John consulted with San Jose's Med 30 and the IC to scout out an area for Rehab. A location was identified in the street to the left of the involved structure and FSU-2 was easily located there when it arrived. By lunch time, two large boxes of burritos arrived for the hungry crews and FASCV helped to serve the meal. FSU-2 was released from the scene at approximately 12:45 P.M.
  -- Report submitted by John Whitaker