A two-alarm fire believed to have originated Wednesday morning
in one of the machines that dries garlic and onions at Gilroy Foods
shut a portion of the factory down while firefighters battled the
blaze.
A two-alarm fire believed to have originated Wednesday morning in one of the machines that dries garlic and onions at Gilroy Foods shut a portion of the factory down while firefighters battled the blaze.
The fire, which was called in about 8:30 a.m., sent one CalFire firefighter to Saint Louise Regional Hospital as a precautionary measure. The firefighter’s vital signs warranted medical attention after he emerged from the smoky factory, according to Gilroy Battalion Chief Ed Bozzo. Bozzo said he could not release the firefighter’s name but said Thursday that the firefighter had been released to full duty.
Local firefighters juggled two fires Wednesday morning. A half-acre brush fire also sparked up on the west side of Santa Teresa Boulevard near Miller Avenue, causing officials to reroute traffic until the fire was contained. As part of a mutual aid agreement, crews from CalFire and the Santa Clara County Fire Department responded to assist the Gilroy Fire Department, which had already committed a majority of its resources to the Gilroy Foods fire, said Derek Whitmer, CalFire South Bay Operations chief.
“The weather definitely assisted us,” he said.
About 11:30 a.m., his crew trained their hoses on a few remaining hot spots under a sky churning with gray clouds.
“If it was hot and windy, we would have been chasing it up the side of this hill,” Whitmer said.
With no sign of lightning and no power lines in the area, Whitmer said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
About the same time, Bozzo was overseeing the cleanup at Gilroy Foods. About 12:30 p.m., firefighters had mostly contained the blaze and were working to ensure the fire in the smoldering pipes was completely extinguished.
“We’re going to be here for a while,” Bozzo said as members of his team took a breather before heading back into the factory.
The fire summoned three engines from the Gilroy Fire Department, three from CalFire, one from the South Santa Clara County Fire District, one from the Santa Clara County Fire Department and several auxiliary support vehicles, Bozzo said.
Inside the dim factory, several inches of water sloshed underfoot as Gilroy Foods workers used large squeegees to clean the slippery floor. Fire crews had turned off the power and the smell of roasted onions and garlic lingered in the air.
“There was a lot of heat and a lot of smoke,” said Nick Ciardella, a CalFire safety officer. “But everything was burning within the machinery.”
Bozzo said he did not know how much product had been lost in the fire. A representative from Gilroy Foods asked the media to leave.
“Once and while we do get fires here,” Bozzo said of Gilroy Foods. “They’ve actually been pretty good, but in an operation like this, it happens now and again.”
