Cause of blaze under investigation
Morgan Hill – A blaze quickly destroyed a shed on property north of Morgan Hill Tuesday morning, but the owner said she was grateful fire crews were able to save her home.
“I’m so glad they kept it from burning,” said Frances Fernandez, who has lived in the home at 201 San Bruno Avenue for 51 years. “We have lost a lot of personal things that were stored in the shed, we lost our tractor, my grandsons’ motorcycles, but we didn’t lose the house, and nobody was hurt.”
Santa Clara County Fire Department Chief Wally Finck said until the CDF crews arrived with water tankers, the SCCFD firefighters concentrated on protecting the home when they arrived after the 11:15am call.
“When we arrived, the other buildings were already pretty engaged,” he said. “We had to worry about electric, about possible explosives, but we really didn’t want the house involved. So we focused our efforts on keeping it at bay, our plan worked and we were able to protect it.”
Fernandez said she had “no idea” what might have started the fire.
“A woman just came up and knocked at our door and said that our shed was on fire,” she said. “Right away, I went directly to the phone and called 911, and they got here very quickly. We moved our cars down to the street and stayed out of the house.”
The fire apparently started in a shed to the rear of the house which Fernandez said was mainly used for storage. The fire then spread to a nearby garage containing a tractor, tools and other items, then to a small barn containing various items but no animals. Finck said one of the buildings had contained fertilizer, and he was concerned about the toxicity of the smoke.
Located between Hale Avenue and Monterey Highway, Fernandez’s property sits in an open area surrounded by fields, farms and greenhouses. Columns of first brown smoke, then black when the tractor started to burn, billowing up from the flames could be seen from both roads and from Highway 101.
Both Engine 12 and 13 responded from SCCFD; several CDF engines and the tanker followed quickly behind.
The cause of the fire and the amount of the loss were not known by presstime. An investigation is under way.
