Two City of Gilroy Fire Department engines responded to a fire that was started by a burning candle at approximately 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. The fire occurred inside a homeless encampment along the west side of the railroad tracks behind the Gilroy Dispatch newsroom office, located at 6400 Monterey Road.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze “within a couple of minutes” and no occupants stuck around to provide details. One fire engine drove up alongside the railroad tracks inside the fenceline to help extinguish the the fire. The second engine remained in the rear parking lot of the Dispatch office. The railroad tracks were shut down while firefighters continued to snuff out the fire.
One of the people staying at the encampment, Loredo Paster, 55, surveyed the smoldering scene in tears. Paster said he left a candle burning in the encampment and had just left to visit a local storage facility, where he said he was making arrangements to move all of his things. Paster, who has been battling bladder cancer for many years, returned to the encampment to find all of his belongings had burned.
