Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Large Pallet Fire In Gilroy Lights Up the Morning Sky

    
Photo By Craig Allyn Rose
On Wednesday, October 22, an early morning blaze started in pile of pallets in a complex at 2713 Ferguson Rd. in Gilroy and was reported to South County Fire at around 4:40 A.M. Units from South Santa Clara County Fire District arrived and reported the blaze was large and starting to involve what could best be described as a barn.
  
Once on scene, the South County B/C requested more resources, adding 4 Water Tenders and more additional Engines to his original request. The fire was burning in several thousand square feet of pallet storage, and thousands of pallets were burning. Once the fire established in the barn, the IC added Ladder Trucks, 5 more engines, and 2 more Water Tenders to his request, together with a strike team of Type 1 Engines to stand by in the vicinity too protect other nearby structures.
   
Around 7:00 A.M., Fire Associates was paged to the scene, and John Whiteside responded in Fire Support Unit 3, stopping along the way for a supply of donuts. John was met on site by Fire Associates guest Bill Roth and the pair set up for morning Rehab. Hot coffee and donuts proved to be as popular as always. A short while later, Fire Associates member Bruce Dembecki arrived on scene to help out.
   
Eventually, the fire spread into bales of cardboard waiting to be recycled and the operation to pull apart the cardboard and other debris to extinguish the fire extended for multiple hours. While several thousand square feet of barn were lost, the bulk of the building was saved.
  
After a very long morning, fire crews were delighted when lunch was served by the Fire Associates team.
 
SSCCFD was assisted in fighting the blaze by units from Gilroy Fire, Morgan Hill Fire, Cal Fire, and San Jose Fire with additional support in the form of Water Tenders from Spring Valley Fire and Hollister Fire (and, of course, our FSU-3).
-- Report submitted by Bruce Dembecki
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