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| Photo by John Whiteside |
Friday, July 10, at 5:12 P.M., San Jose dispatched a Tier 2 alarm to Capitol Expressway at Tuers Road. A brush fire was reported to be burning along the west side of the creek and atop an old landfill, on the south side of Capitol Expy. This created a rush-hour traffic jam with the expressway’s third lane being closed off for fire equipment staging.
John Whiteside was returning home to San Jose from Morgan Hill Cal Fire VIP duty when the page was received. Being the only south area driver available, he responded to pick up Fire Support Unit 3 at Station 35. He arrived on scene at approximately 6:30 P.M. and set up benches, cold drinks, and Clif bars. On-scene guests, Nick Arnett and Ken Needham, went to pickup 40 Togo meals at the request of the Incident Commander. Fire Associates doesn't usually use the help of guests on the fireground to this extent, but since the request would have necessitated John taking FSU-3 away from Rehab to make the pick-up, in this case it was good to have a couple of guests available. The food was welcomed by the tired crews.
Several burning trees were considered a danger to personnel and had to be cut down. Cal Fire Engine 1673 was dispatched to handle this job -- especially to fall a very large, tall tree that was ablaze top to bottom. By 9:30 P.M., except for a couple of San Jose engine companies, all units had been released from the scene.
- View more of John Whiteside's photos at: Tuers Rd. Fire
