 |
| Photo from the San Jose Fire Dept. |
On January 14, which was a
cool, 44-degree mid-winter morning, Fire Associates was paged to a 3-alarm fire
at 380
Terraine Street. Located just north of San Jose Fire Station No. 1, the
fire was burning in an large, abandoned industrial warehouse. The 1-square-block site
included the involved 12,000-square-foot structure located on the southeast
corner of Terraine Street
and Bassett Street.
First-arriving firefighters discovered that the entire bowed-truss roof was fully involved. A
second alarm was quickly called to bring adequate equipment and personnel to
the scene. A surround-and-drown strategy was initialed with Trucks 1, 29, and
30 providing aerial master streams. The IC for the incident was BC Joel Phelan,
who happened to be working his last shift before retirement. What a way to go
out!
When the third
alarm was struck, Fire Associates was called for rehab assistance. John
Whiteside responded from Station 6 with Fire Support Unit 2, while John
Whitaker went to the scene in his personal vehicle. After conferring with SJ
Med30, Mike Van Elgort, a rehab location was decided upon in a parking lot
across San Pedro Street
from the fire. This was also the location of the incident command center. John
and John were later joined by FASCV member Mike Garcia.
 |
| Photo by John Whitaker |
When FSU-2 arrived
on scene, a rehab area was established to provide hot coffee, hot chocolate,
and Clif Bars to the fire crews as they were relieved. As a
"surprise", a pink box or two of donuts were anonymously provided to
the firefighters. Something about "...Joel's last shift."
When the fire was
totally contained and under control, fire companies were put back into service
and rehab was broken down by 7:10 A.M.
- John Whitaker's photos can be viewed at: Warehouse Blaze
-- Report
submitted by John Whitaker
