A commercial van fire in the underground garage of the Orchard Glen apartment complex was extinguished quickly on Thursday afternoon, with no injuries thanks to a speedy response from Santa Clara Fire Department. Smoke from the fire was visible on Stevens Creek Boulevard.
The fire broke out at about 1:45 p.m., and SCFD was on the scene in under five minutes.
“We had to evacuate 24 apartments due to heavy smoke,” said Battalion Chief Rob Contreras, adding that the firefighters also evacuated a dog.
“Evacuating people and pets is the first priority of any call,” he said.
The fire was extinguished in 25 minutes.
“It was a quick fire attack,” said Contreras.
“There is still some heat on the walls,” he said, “and we will have to cut into the walls to make sure that the fire doesn’t extend into apartments.”
“When I heard the fire alarm, I looked out the window, and all I saw was smoke,” said resident Khoa Tran. “I heard popping sounds.”
Tran said they sounded like small explosions.
By the time Tran and his partner Trang Tran got to the door of the third floor apartment, there was so much smoke it was hard to breathe.
“We couldn’t see anything,” said Trang. “We were unprepared for something like this.”
The Southern California fires were not far from the couple’s minds.
“I can empathize with people [affected by the fire] much more. We would have conversations about what we would do [in a fire].”
But they didn’t go further. Khoa said he grabbed his wallet and keys. Now, though, he says, he’s going to have an emergency “go bag.”
Ricky Manago and his dog Lulu were also among those evacuated.
“We had a fire drill last month, and I thought this might be another drill when the alarm started to go off,” he said. “Then I looked out the door and saw black smoke.”
Disasters can strike any time and Santa Clara firefighters encourage folks to be prepared. Visit Santa Clara’s emergency preparedness website: www.santaclaraca.gov/services/emergency-services/emergency-preparedness.