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| Photo By Craig Allyn Rose |
On Saturday morning, July 26, dispatchers received an early morning report of a
fire in an industrial area of San Jose. Originally reported to be at 2440 South 10th Street, the fire was found burning in a structure at 1596 South 7th Street, located between South 7th and South 10th Streets.
Early difficulties in
locating the seat of the fire were overcome and the fire, burning in
several warehouses and an exterior storage area, went to 5 alarms. 4th
and 5th alarm units were provided by mutual aid from surrounding cities,
with Santa Clara County, Santa Clara, Milpitas, and Sunnyvale Fire
Departments all providing resources. The incident IC also requested an Overhead
Support Team, which resulted in Senior staff from Santa Clara County,
Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Palo Alto Fire assisting at the scene.
Fire
Associates were called out at 3:42 A.M. with the 3rd-alarm escalation, and
Fire Support Unit 2 with Don Gilbert and Bruce Dembecki was on scene
shortly after 4:00 A.M. Through the morning, Fire Associates members Jerry
Haag, Larry Carr, Mike Garcia, and Len Williams joined the crews on
scene, as did guest Kenny Needham.
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| Photo By Craig Allyn Ros |
The
fire destroyed several buildings, but the large amount of smoldering
debris presented additional challenges for fire crews. While the fire
was under control by 8:00 A.M., additional resources were requested to deal
with the smoldering piles. San Jose called in two front-end loaders
from the City yard to pull the debris piles apart. On what would eventually be a 95-degree day, it was clear that the operation would extend into the
afternoon.
During the early morning hours, coffee
was popular as were cold drinks for the crews who were already working
up a sweat. Once the sun came up, and the operation moved into an
extended mode, the coffee pots were put away and the demand for cold
drinks increased. A supply run was made to restock the ice supply which was
running low as Fire Associates crews worked to keep up with the demand
from hot and tired fire crews.
Meals were served late in the morning and Fire Associates members were released from the scene shortly after 1:00 P.M.
- Photos by Craig Allyn Rose can be viewed at: South 7th Warehouse
-- Report submitted by Bruce Dembecki
