A two-alarm fire ravaged a multi-unit townhouse on the 2800 block of Cicero Way in East San Jose, leaving 14 residents without a place to call home and injuring one firefighter, according to the San José Fire Department (SJFD). SJFD units were called to the scene at approximately 2:49 pm yesterday, where they found the townhouse engulfed in flames, a challenge exacerbated by strong winds, as Battalion Chief Robert Culbertson pointed out in an interview with ABC7 News.
#SJFD firefighters are on scene of a second alarm assignment at a residential structure on the 2800 block of Cicero Way in East San José. Traffic impacted. Please avoid the area.
— San José Fire Dept. (@SJFD) August 24, 2024
TOC: 2:49pm. pic.twitter.com/7jDwsWTkyD
The injury to the firefighter, described as non-life-threatening burns to the ears and face, occurred during the aggressive operation to extinguish the blaze, which took around two hours. This demanding effort led to upgrading the incident to a two-alarm fire, meaning approximately 40 to 50 firefighting personnel were at the scene, along with law enforcement and ambulances, with concerns initially of people trapped inside, compounding the urgency of their response. Nearby structures were evacuated as a precaution, and traffic in the vicinity was impacted as the firefighting operation unfolded, as reported by the SJFD.
In the aftermath, frenetic assurances materialized that all human occupants had escaped unharmed, though the SJFD confirmed that two dogs perished in the conflagration. Red Cross assistance has been offered to the displaced individuals, six adults and eight children, who were seen gathering on the street with the few belongings they could rescue. In a commiserating tilt of fate, local resident Kevin Flores, taken aback by the rapid intensification of the fire from what he mistook for a neighbor's barbecue to a full-blown house fire, attempted a futile defense with his garden hose.
Speculation about the blaze's origins remains, with the official cause still under investigation. Yet, as Culbertson emphasized, the tightly knit layout of the neighborhood and flammable materials nearby, including trees between the homes, had complicated their battle to snuff out the fire.
