Hecker Pass Highway was closed off in both directions between
Burchell Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard for about an hour for a
two-alarm fire that ravaged a 34-foot trailer behind a vacant
residence across from the Gilroy Golf Course.
GILROY
Hecker Pass Highway was closed in both directions between Burchell Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard for about an hour for a two-alarm fire that ravaged a 34-foot trailer behind a vacant residence across from the Gilroy Golf Course.
The trailer’s owner, William Griffiths, 72, worked as a caretaker for the property at 2740 Hecker Pass Highway. He and his cat, Snowy, spent the rainy morning inside his trailer. After putting a kettle on the gas stove to heat, Griffiths went into his bedroom to get dressed but dozed off. Startled by the sound of the smoke alarm going off and his cat howling, he woke up. He said it took him a minute to realize what was going on. After fumbling around in the smoke to locate Snowy, Griffiths escaped unharmed as 30-foot flames shot into the gray sky.
He held his cat close and looked on as the Gilroy Fire Department and CalFire worked to put out the fire that still burned in the trailer’s walls.
“That smoke detector saved his life,” Gilroy Fire Capt. Shaun Peyghambary said.
However, Griffiths lost his home and belongings in the fire, a sum Peyghambary estimated at $7,000.
Capt. Gil Rodriguez of the South County Fire District responded to the fire about 9:30 a.m. when he saw black smoke billowing into the sky. He requested the second alarm and GFD responded for a total of three fire engines to fight the blaze. The team concentrated two lines on the trailer with nozzles that dispensed water at a rate of 250 gallons per minute to tame the flames. The light drizzle did nothing to help, Peyghambary said.
Their main goal was to protect the vacant house on the property that was situated just feet away from the trailer. Despite the proximity of the flames and the blackened trailer, the house was untouched by the fire.
