On Saturday, Oct. 9, at 4:50 PM units of the San Jose Fire Department responded to a report of a vehicle fire on U.S. Highway 101 near McKee Road east of downtown San Jose. While en route firefighters reported a column of smoke in the general area of the initial report prompting the dispatch of additional apparatus to the area
Firefighters discovered a well-established vegetation fire spreading into a field near two commercial structures including a Kellogg's plant that produces Eggo Waffles and a Vietnamese language radio station, KSJX located at 501 Wooster Ave.
Firefighters were forced to deal with rapidly changing conditions as flames quickly extended into the structure housing the radio station's transmitting equipment.
Crews launched defensive operations to contain the spread of fire from the building. Meanwhile, additional resources were tasked with attacking the vegetation fire that had spread through approximately five acres of thick brush, trees, and grasses.
Crews from San Jose Truck 1 and Truck 2 conducted master stream operations on the fully involved radio station building while numerous hand lines were stretched and placed into operation as needed.
Some 70 firefighters under the command of Incident commander Battalion Chief Jim Stunkel (B1-B), assisted by Battalion Chiefs Robert Sapien (B10-B), Colleen Mulholand (B29-B), and Juan Diaz (DSO), worked for several hours to contain both the structure and vegetation fires.
