GILROY
– A two-alarm fire left more than 10 field workers homeless,
their possessions destroyed. The blaze struck just before 10 a.m.
Tuesday at the Rodriguez migrant worker camp on Southside Drive in
southeast Gilroy.
By MEGAN BAKKER and LORI STUENKEL
Staff Intern and Staff Writer
GILROY – A two-alarm fire left more than 10 field workers homeless, their possessions destroyed. The blaze struck just before 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Rodriguez migrant worker camp on Southside Drive in southeast Gilroy.
The fire damaged six of the camp’s 29 units. One unit in the center of the camp was completely destroyed, two adjacent units were severely damaged and three either sustained fire damage to exterior eaves or water damage. Between four and six people live in each apartment, which are made up of one kitchen and one large bedroom.
The fire was contained by 10:45 a.m., when most residents were at work. No one was injured.
Gilroy Division Fire Chief Phil King estimated the total cost of damage at $70,000, based on similar cases. Ramiro Rodriguez, an owner of the camp, planned to call his insurance company as soon as possible to get an official estimate.
Rodriguez said the fire department told him a faulty extension cord could have caused the blaze, but some residents think a burning candle was the cause.
Returning to his home in the camp Tuesday afternoon, Francisco Gill found his unit – which he shares with his wife, two cousins, a brother and sister – gutted by flames. Shortly after 6 p.m., Gill was piling what was left of his possessions in the walkway between two of the camp’s long buildings. Several T-shirts and one navy blue tennis shoe were stacked on top of a 30-inch television set, all soaking wet.
“Pretty much the majority of my things burned,” Gill said. He and the other workers at the camp spoke only in Spanish. “I don’t know what I’m going to do; I’ll have to talk to Ramiro (Rodriguez) about it.”
Gill said he first came to Gilroy to work last spring and returned for this harvest season two months ago. He said he wants to stay in Gilroy through this fall.
Two units down, Labril Santos, 24, swept brown water from his bedroom, which he shares with four other workers, into the concrete-lined walkway. His unit was spared from the flames.
“It was good luck for us,” he said. “It’s a little wet, but no more.”
Rodriguez was busy Monday evening restoring the well line that supplies the restrooms and showers. He said the camp has little to no extra space for the displaced workers, so he contacted the Red Cross to get them into a shelter and connected to vital services.
His mother, Cecilia, was at home in the camp when the fire broke out.
“We were back there … ” she said, pointing to the northwest corner of the camp. Gerardo Medina, who lives in the camp and cleans it for a living, told Cecilia Rodriguez that he “smelled something.”
Running out of the building, Medina said he heard the sounds of fire crackling and glass breaking.
“We could see the fire coming out of the windows,” Cecilia Rodriguez said. “I said, ‘shut off the gas, do whatever you can, call 9-1-1.’ ”
Some of the camp’s residents brought fire extinguishers to try dousing the flames, he said, but were unsuccessful.
“I was hoping we could stop it,” Medina said.
Rodriguez Camp resident Margarita Naranjo was preparing for a shift at Los Pericos Taqueria on Fifth Street at the time the fire started. She lives around the corner and in a different building from the ones that burned.
“I was inside my room, getting ready to leave, and I saw lots of smoke,” Naranjo said.
King said the fire department was having difficulties at first, since the nearest water source was 1,000 feet away. He said that it was “very fortunate” they arrived when they did.
“In a few more minutes, we probably would have lost the entire building. … It was a good stop,” King said.
About 140 migrant workers and their children, who move through the state following various agricultural crops, call Rodriguez Camp home from May to November each year. The laborers work for companies like Christopher Ranch, Headstart Nursery and Bonfante Gardens.
Each of the camp’s five buildings, several hundred feet long, with low doorways, contain about eight units and sit parallel to each other. Nicknamed the “Concrete Camp,” ground between and inside the units is entirely concrete. Walkways between the rows of units are roughly 10 feet wide, with permanent clotheslines running between. Once an all-male camp, bathrooms and showers are detached from the units.
South County Fire Department arrived first on the scene. Gilroy Fire Department followed shortly thereafter. Seven engines and more than 20 firefighters battled the blaze.
