The Santa Clara County Fire Department responded to a local call about a small fire on the south side of Village Green Apartments on Nov. 9. Within minutes, SCCFD sent its first dispatch at 1:44 p.m. along with additional county support, quickly extinguishing the fire and keeping damage to a minimum, Gerald Myers, Engine 71 firefighter, engineer and paramedic said.
(Photo by Ethan Xue)
“We were dispatched to a report of smoke coming from an apartment with initial information indicating no one was inside,” Myers said. “Upon arrival, our crew was the first on scene and observed smoke billowing from the opposite side of the front door.”
To clear the fog, firefighters of Engine 71 parked near the apartment walkway, stretched a hose line and conducted a primary search to confirm vacancy, Myers said. After forcing entry and locating the source, they stretched an 800-foot hose line and used under 100 gallons of water to put out the fire, Myers added.
Along with the fire department, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, PG&E and Red Cross offered situational aid to ensure success and support, SCCFD battalion chief Marcos Flores said.
“We have cooperating agencies we work with on a daily basis, especially when we have large incidents,” Flores said. “The Sheriff’s Department assisted with traffic and crowd control, PG&E secured the utilities to affected units and Red Cross assisted the displaced residents.”
Watching the firefighters respond promptly gave a spark of reassurance that there are always fallbacks in cases of emergencies, nearby tenant, sophomore Arjun Khokar said.
“[It’s] just great that the firemen came so quickly. Within three minutes, they were already here and killed the fire, so it’s good to know that we have these kinds of people to protect us,” Khokar said.
With no injuries from this incident, addressing the importance of fire safety is essential to ensure everyone in a nearby fire-scape environment is safe, Flores said. When seeing signs of smoke, the first step should be to call 911, Flores said.
“Here in Cupertino, the SCCFD is properly trained and has units nearby, so we can have a quick response. We can get there for whatever incident, whether it’s a fire, EMS call or wildland fire,” Flores said. “We have the training and capability to mitigate any emergency, and we’re more than happy to help out.”
