On Thanksgiving Eve, a fast-moving blaze devastates a well-known
local family; but fortunately no injures are reported
Gilroy – Dean Moon watched his home burn, the mint-green retreat he’d built 15 years ago on an abandoned vineyard on Hecker Pass Highway, just west of Bonfante Gardens. Vicious, thick smoke issued skyward from the gutters, windows and roof as firefighters tried to blot the swelling flames. From miles away you could see it, an ominous column against the green hills.
“I built everything here,” said Moon, gesturing to the rosebushes, the wooden gazebo, a pond stocked with placid fish. “There was nothing here.”
His daughter-in-law Sue took his hand, and that of his wife Gerri, over the fence, and they prayed.
At 10:30 Wednesday morning, when Dean Moon opened the door to his back porch, the smoke hit him like a slap in the face. He closed the door and called 911. All around him, he heard the windows popping. The fire alarm began to bleat. Turning a hose onto the flames, he tried to control them himself – but the fire had grown too large.
Minutes later, when engineer Scott Freels arrived with the South Santa Clara County Fire District, the heat was overwhelming, pushing firefighters back from the home. Flashlights barely scraped the darkness, he said. The Moons were running back and forth from the house, trying to gather their belongings; firefighters stopped them. The danger was too great. Thankfully, neither was injured.
Eight engines sped to the scene, some from as far as Pajaro Valley and San Jose. The two-alarm fire was still ablaze at noon, angry flames licking through the roof. The west end of the house was all but gutted by the fire; in some spots, firefighters could look straight through one side of the house to the other. Gilroy Fire Department, South Santa Clara County Fire District, a county fire engine and engines from Pajaro Valley and San Jose, called in for mutual aid, attended.
Dean Moon said the fire started from a wood stove, left burning by one of his sons, who’d left the house for a job interview in San Jose. He was living temporarily with his parents, between jobs. Their other children and grandchildren gathered behind the house, watching silently as the roof sunk into flames. Granddaughter Geralyn Moon cuddled a dachshund; grandson Adam, home from college, warmed his hands inside his sweatshirt.
Thanksgiving was left to the daughters-in-law to plan this year, said Gerri Moon. That, at least, would be spared.
Over the driveway, the sign still reads ‘Moon’s Happy Acres.’ ‘Happy Acres’ was the name of the motel Dean and Gerri stayed at on their honeymoon. When they could buy land, they promised themselves, they would name it after that motel.
“It was very happy,” said Gerri Moon, “until now.”
