Day 18, March 29, 2009

On the local news from San Francisco last night, they reported that San Jose had a two-alarm fire. It came and went so fast that I didn’t get an address. It got fairly cool last night in Cloverdale. It was only about 45 when I got up in the morning. I had breakfast at my brother’s home and then packed up the car and headed down the 101. If was 50 degrees and sunny when I departed Cloverdale. The drive down the 101 was very easy, probably because it was Sunday morning. Just before I got to the Golden Gate bridge I downloaded my Pro-96 V-folder for the San Fran-Oakland-SanJose area, or so I thought.

I crossed the Golden Gate into San Francisco around 1030 hours and drove by a few SFFD stations on my way down toward San Jose. Both SFFD stations I went by had terrible photo possibilities because of their locations and lack of a ramp. It was 60 and sunny in San Francisco. I didn’t hear any fire radio traffic all the way through the city, which I thought was very unusual. When I checked my Pro-96, I realized that I had accidentally downloaded my V-folder (9) for Marin & Sonoma County into the V-folder (8) that I previously had the SanFran etc frequencies in. Note to self: Please put on reading glasses when changing V-folders!!!! I had hit “save” to instead of “load” while I was driving.

I stopped at an exit along I-280 and got my computer out of the trunk so that I could reload my San Fran etc program into my Pro-96 (and then saved it back into the V-folder (8) it belonged in). The V-folders are awesome when you use them properly. I immediately started hearing a bunch of fire traffic on one of the Alameda County (across the bay) channels. The radio traffic sounded like a drill so I eventually locked the Alameda Tac channel out. Now that I’m in a motel watching the evening news I’m seeing a large fire in an old abandoned factory on “A” Street on a live shot. It was scheduled for demolition. The ACFD fought a fire in the factory over night (that fire looked very spectacular on the local news), then twice again this morning (they reported the three fires as being arson- possibly started by transients). I don’t know how many alarms it was, but the most recent fire (the one I heard) looked very smoky, but with no flames visible. It looked more like a smoking fire ruins. Concord also had a two-alarm fire in an apartment complex around 0200 hours. It was also featured on the local news.

I got off the 280 and stopped at San Jose Station 14 (the west-most station in the city). I got a photo of Truck 14 and the station (firefighters there were top-notch). They told me they had two 2nd alarm fires on Friday night (the second fire was started by brands from the first). I headed to a fire station that was marked on my map (Thomas Brothers map) a little east and south of Station 14, but could not locate it after driving around a number of blocks in the immediate area. I headed to nearby Santa Clara County Station 11. I got a photo of Engine 11. SCCFD has 18 stations and runs three ladder trucks (two are Quint-only stations). The SCCFD has grown quite a bit over the years as cities have joined the county to save money after having financed their own departments previously. They run three-man engines and four-man trucks.

I stopped at SCCFD Station 5, which has a 75’ Quint and a brush rig (cross-manned) quartered there. The driver was very nice and pulled the rig around the rear for photos. I also stopped at SCCFD Station 10 (10 and 11 were both former Campbell FD stations). The guys there were great too and pulled the engine around back for photos. I headed to nearby San Jose Station 9. Just before I got to Station 9, I spotted an Arby’s and made a brief stop in for take-out lunch. As I heading back to the car, Truck 9 responded west-bound code 3. I couldn’t turn around fast enough to see where they went.

I headed back towards Station 9 and Engine 9 passed me by (no lights or siren). I turned around and followed them for a while, until I noticed that they were following an ambulance, probably to a local t hospital somewhere. I gave up following them and stopped at SJ Station 4. Both the engine and truck were running spares. I got them to pull their old yellow Pierce reserve pumper out. The reserve truck I had taken a shot of at the shops last week.

I drove to Station 6 and got a photo of their fairly new Air Truck, which is picked up by a SJFD truck company and brought to the fire for air bottle etc. There were two more new stations I wanted to see before the day was over. I headed to new SJFD Station 33, on “Communication Hill.” There is a huge new development of homes, town homes, apartments and high-rises going up in an area between San Jose Stations 6, 13, 18 and 26. There is a large hill right in the middle of that area which for some reason was never built on before. There are quite a number of new developments built up and around the Communication Hill area. I was surprised at home many new apartments, town homes, and condos that were new to the area.

SJFD Station 33 was built on the top of that hill with a rather spectacular view to the south and east. I found my way up the hill to Station 33 (with great directions from a firefighter at Station 4), but ran into a very unfriendly and suspicious firefighter there. I was only able to get a station photo. I took a number of photos of the new condos, town homes and private homes from up on the hill. I’m sure they’re all big bucks.

I headed down the hill and headed towards new SJFD Station 35. It was a difficult station to get to because of railroad tracks that run alongside Monterey Highway. I finally found a way to get to the west side on the tracks and eventually found Station 35, which was empty. I got a station photo. I headed out to SJFD Station 27, near the 101 freeway and my last stop for the day. They told me Engine 35 was at EMS training this afternoon. The firefighters at Station 27 were great, pulled out the engine for me. When I asked them about places to stay, they even recommended some nice hotels/motels in the area after. I checked into a very nice Extended Stay they told me about, only about a block from Station 27 and less than a mile from the 101. I would never have seen the Extended Stay as it is off the main drag about a block on a side street. This area, in the far SE section of San Jose, is also very nice.

That’s about all for today. Tomorrow I’ll head south on the 101 to Gilroy, then head east on highway 152 (through the picturesque San Luis Recreation area) to connect with Interstate-5 and then head south to the Los Angeles area, where I’ll be for about a week.