March 8, 2008 -- Third-alarm Response for San Jose

The pagers went off at 2:02 A.M. on Saturday morning and John Whiteside and John Whitaker answered the call. This time it was for a 3rd-alarm fire that destroyed Building 25 on the former site of IBM Corp. in the south-eastern portion of the city. For those in the know, you'll recognize the address of 5600 Cottle Road as the birthplace of a precursor of the magnetic hard drive. This achievement was one of the factors that ultimately lead to the "Silicon Valley" economic boom years.

The fireground covered a massive area and negotiating the maze of hoses proved to be a daunting task. But, once set up near the IC, Support Unit 2 proved to be a very popular site as we distributed 7 dozen donuts and a large amount of coffee and lemonade. It was a mild night, but the firefighters were wet, tired and hungry. FASCV was released at approximately 10:30 A.M.

Recently, developers, the City of San Jose and preservationists have been at odds as to the historic importance of the 69,000 square-foot building. But, after this fire completely gutted the structure, there's no denying that the building's future has been greatly compromised. Click on the accompanying photo above for a video of firefighter efforts.

To read more about the fire and developers plans for the site, go to: sfgate.com.

John Whitaker's photos can be viewed at: SJS - IBM Fire

SJFD Demonstrations Live Up to Advanced Billing

Everyone went away happy after the FASCV March Monthly Meeting! That's because of the excellent demonstrations put on by the crew of Station No. 1 and Battalion Chief Kevin Conant.

Through a special arrangement, one of San Jose Fire's two new aerial ladder trucks was available for viewing and a exhibition of it's 103-foot ladder. With FASCV members looking on, as well as members of the Station 1 crew, one of the eager "truckies" donned protective gear and climbed to the tip of the fully-extended ladder. Once at the tip, he demonstrated the benefits of the truck's built-in ladder-to-ground communication system. Engineers explained to the group that these 60-foot-long, articulated vehicles are actually much more maneuverable through tight city streets and narrow residential areas than any truck now operated by SJFD.

Next on the agenda was a tour of the S.J. Fire's new Communication Van. Chief Conant proudly led FASCV members into the former bookmobile where he explained its capabilities. Featured within the unit are two banks of radios (one for dispatchers and the other for command staff), access to a wide variety of external video sources (including a mast-mounted camera and down links from airborne video sources), a big screen TV for viewing the fire scene, and computer printers for printing out photos and reports. Creature features include air conditioning, bright lighting, and a massive amount of custom-built cabinetry that is entirely faced with "whiteboard" material for on-the-spot record-keeping.

After the tours, it was obvious to all who attended that San Jose firefighters will soon have two first-rate pieces of equipment at their disposal.

John Whitaker's photos of the event can be viewed at: FASCV March Meeting

Dinner Planned Before March Monthly Meeting

Prior to our 7:30 P.M. meeting at SJFD Station No. 1, Ed Del Prete suggests that we meet for dinner at the Sonoma Chicken Coop restaurant at 5:30 P.M. The restaurant location is 31 N. Market in San Jose -- just down the street from Station No. 1. These locations are within a 2-block walking distance of each other. Check out the map at: Walking Map

See you there!

John Whitaker

"The Embers" - March 2008

The March 2008 issue of "The Embers" is now available on line.

March Monthly Meeting Features Sneak Preview

The FASCV Monthly Meeting for March will be held on Thursday, March 6, at 7:30 P.M. We will all meet at San Jose Fire Station No. 1, located at 225 North Market Street in downtown San Jose. Street parking is available around the rear (West) and North sides of the station. It is metered parking that is free after 6:00 P.M.

We will meet in the conference room and, although this is a B-shift evening, Battalion 1A Chief Kevin Conant has agreed to be our host. Dan Sunseri has agreed to make one of the new Tillers and the Command Van available for static display at the station. Capt Phelan is coordinating with Capt. Pianto for the tiller driver/operator(s).

So, as you can see, Chief Conant has gone the extra mile to make these rigs available to us. Plan on coming and take advantage of this special opportunity to get a sneak preview of the latest San Jose apparatus.

See you all there!

February 9, 2008 -- Special Request By Milpitas Fire

On February 9, at 14:40, FASCV was requested by Milpitas Fire to provide services for a 1st-alarm house fire on the city's north side. Located at 554 Clauser Dr., near Escuela Parkway, the fire was roaring in a second-floor, rear bedroom when firefighters arrived. Jerry Haag and Bob Gundrum arrived in Support Unit 1 and immediately provided water, Gatorade and energy bars to the crews that were in the process of overhaul. The weather was clear and near 68 degrees on an otherwise pleasant Saturday afternoon. John Whitaker was also on scene to provide assistance. FASCV was released at approximately 16:25.

John's photos of the incident can be seen at: MLP - House Fire

February 3, 2008 -- 4th-alarm Response in San Jose

On Sunday night, February 3rd, Fire Associates provided service at a 4th-alarm blaze in San Jose. Responding in Support Unit #2 was Don Gilbert and John Whiteside. Meeting them at the fire was John Whitaker, Brian Woodson and his son, and Mike Chappell with Herman DeKruyff also responding.

FASCV was on scene at approximately 11:15 P.M. The fire involved a large abandoned warehouse located at 686 N. King Road, near Maybury. Firefighters opted to protect other buildings in the area while allowing the empty building to burn itself out. After providing lots of hot coffee and donuts to some grateful firefighters, FASCV was released at approximately 2:00 A.M.

News stories can be found at these links: cbs5.com and KCBS

John Whitaker's photos of the event can be viewed at: SJS - King Rd. Warehouse

February Monthly Meeting Update

This just in... For those of you interested, some members of the group will be dining at El Caminito Restaurant - 510 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale (near McDonald's) at 6:00 P.M. All are welcome.

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The FASCV February monthly meeting will be held at the offices of FASCV member Len Williams'office, 455 S. Mathilda Ave., Sunnyvale, 94086. Meeting time will be 7:30 P.M.

Our guest speaker will be Sunnyvale Dept. of Public Safety Lieutenant A.J. Berrien. AJ will discuss his experiences while deployed on a strike team in Southern California as part of last summer's wildfires. Come hear what he has to say. Should be interesting to everyone!

"The Embers" - February 2008

The February 2008 edition of "The Embers" is now available on line.

January 17, 2008 -- 4th-alarm Response for San Jose Fire

On Thursday morning, January 17th, at 02:31, FASCV was paged by the San Jose Fire Department to 89 South First Street. Located on the northwest corner of First and San Fernando, the fire involved a large building that was undergoing historic restoration. Don Gilbert and John Whiteside responded in Support Units 2 and 3.

John Whiteside has sent along this report:

"The Thursday fire call was a looonnnngggg one. Don said we should take both units, so we did. Left the station at 03:15 just as E26 had returned to pick up Comm 26. When we got to the scene, no one was operating Comm 26. We were asked if we could set it up and we did so. Randall arrived after the 08:00 shift change to man the van. Noted our generator ran for 9.5 hrs. before running out of gas; I kept timing it! BC Kevin Conant released us about 06:30 but, due to what was to occur, I asked if it was OK to stay longer, without violating commands. He had no problem, so Mike Chappell, Don and I were there until 15:45. We used over half the water tank, so we estimate about 26 gallons -- mostly coffee.

Building was 140 years old and being renovated. Santa Clara City Fire sent a structure alarm. Embers all over downtown! Everything collapsed into the first floor. The problem was the gas main fire that no one could turn off due to the shaky condition of the front wall. The gas fire was about 6-10 feet inside the A side. So, that got done about 14:00 after the Historical Committee and other city staff agreed it could not be preserved. This was after 4 long-reach forklifts and an excavator were delivered and 2 forklifts were positioned at the front to stabilize the wall for the gas shutoff.

A restaurant, the E&O Trading Co., a southeast Asian food place, was on the NE corner and the entrance was within the collapse zone. Gary Galasso, the oncoming IC had alerted me to possible food pickup. They eventually got that restaurant to do a seated lunch for all fire and city personnel -- GREAT! Meantime, VTA top manager had hung around and had Togo’s brought in. I had 2 sandwiches from them before the real food was available. Had walked to McD’s on San Carlos/4th for some breakfast around 09:30.

FASCV got lots of "Thank You’s" for being there. Light rail NB was shut down from Thurs. 02:00 til Fri. night. I had 2 hrs. sleep before the alarm -- we were on-scene for 12.5 hrs. and then came the clean-up, gas-up and restocking! Sure slept good Thurs. night!!"

Thanks John for this report.