As afternoon turned into evening, fire had devoured 75-80% of a large commercial building on the border of Los Gatos and Campbell, authorities said.
The 50,000-square-foot vacant office on Dell Avenue at Knowles Drive started to burn around 10am this morning, and spread quickly, according to Brian Glass, acting fire chief of the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
“Preliminarily, we did not find anybody in the building,” he said around 5pm, adding the incident had been declared “contained,” but that it would result in a “total loss” of the structure.
Firefighters were in the middle of a training exercise at the Sunnyoaks Fire Station, about a mile away, and were able to arrive within minutes, he noted.
One crew went up to the roof to create a make-shift chimney to allow the heat and smoke to escape, paving the way for the interior investigation, according to Glass.
But within 30 minutes, the flames had become so dangerous they had to retreat and switch to a defensive posture, he said.
The San Jose Fire Department, Campbell Police Department and Fire Associates of Santa Clara Valley had soon joined the battle.
Raphael Escalona, 30, was in a meeting at a nearby medical office, when he noticed the inferno.
“We were just peeking out the window,” he said. “It progressively started to get worse pretty quickly.”
He says firefighters did a good job of keeping the flames from spreading.
Eric Serrano, 31, is employed by a neighboring medical device company where they’re required to wear face coverings. Yet, it wasn’t long before the smoke had penetrated their work environment.
“I work inside a ‘clean room,’” he said. “With the mask on you can smell it.”
He marveled at the intensity of the fire.
“You see on the news these fires,” he said. “But when you see it in person, it’s different.”
Iridian Fernandez, 23, of Campbell, was over in San Jose having a meeting with her lawyer, when she heard about the fire via Twitter.
“My husband really enjoys this,” she commented, referring to 26-year-old Alejandro, who was filming a video for the Citizen social news app. “This is a really big one compared to the ones that we’ve seen.”
They’d previously gone out to a park nearby to investigate a tree fire that was reported, but didn’t end up filming that incident.
The crowd behind the caution tape began to feel droplets falling from the direction of the black, gray and yellow billowing smoke overhead. Three minutes later a loud “crack” was heard, as the top corner of the fire-affected structure collapsed.
Alexander Baranoff, 23, of Los Gatos, said he found out about the fire on PulsePoint, a public medical emergency and fire incident-alert app.
He says he knew exactly the building they were talking about since he pedals by it on his bike often.
“I ride the trail right here all the time,” he said. “There was something special about this building.”
Baranoff said he liked the unique triangular balconies and the giant trees out front.
The development that was set to take its place looked more modern, similar to the Netflix building around the corner, he said.
Baranoff saw pictures of the blaze on Twitter and Next Door, and wanted to have a look for himself, since he’s considering a career as a first responder.
The fire had been burning for a couple hours by the time he made it to the scene.
“I’m surprised that this is still going on,” he said. “I find it fascinating what firefighters do.”
Workers at a building across the street said they’d noticed apparent squatters at the fenced-off office site.
Sam Guterman, 28, and August Essner, 35, of South Bay Construction, stood outside, cups in hand.
Casey Harnish, the manager of their building, emerged and joked they were protecting the property.
Harnish said he’d previously worked out of the building that was burning before their eyes.
Management had kept up with repairs, but it’s been sitting empty for years, he said.
Plus, its wooden frame makes it particularly flammable, unlike their concrete building, he added.
In fact, said Guterman, Dollinger Properties was planning to tear the building down next week.
“They—just a couple days ago—safed it off,” he said, describing the process to deactivate utilities ahead of demolition. “Before you knock the building down you abandon all that stuff.”
And Aquamatic Fire Protection, a company they work with, too, had recently disconnected the sprinkler system in the building, he said.
Given the fire, Dollinger’s redevelopment plans have certainly been complicated, he suggested.
“It’s typically more difficult, now, to deal with hazardous materials,” he said. “There’s extra costs associated.”
Santa Clara County fire officials confirmed that the utilities had been shut off and that a lack of water to the building could have played a role in why the fire got out of control so quickly.
Just down the street, Capt. Dave Thomas, of San Jose Fire Department Truck 9, hands out water and Gatorade bottles.
“Everybody did good,” he said, reflecting on the interagency cooperation. “It was well organized.”
He’d heard voices chattering about environmental concerns over his radio, and says he’s confident they were taken seriously.
“Hopefully they’re protecting the creek,” he said, meaning Los Gatos Creek.
Bruce Dembecki, Fire Associates’ vice president, said they were in charge of setting up the “rehab” for the firefighters—a station where crews catch their breath, eat food and hydrate.
But there was so much water being pumped onto the building that the initial station became flooded.
“The carpark here turned into a lake,” said the San Jose resident, who lives on the border with Los Gatos. “So, we had to pick up and move all of our supplies.”
His team was planning to stick around until 10pm, and then return in the morning.
But other firefighters were set to fight the flames throughout the night.
