Third-Alarm Fire Guts Century-Old Baja Tires Shop in Downtown San Jose

A commercial structure fire tore through Baja Tires, a longtime tire shop on the 0 block of East William Street in Downtown San Jose, today, growing to a third alarm as the building became fully involved in flames. Crews shifted to defensive operations, hitting the fire with aerial master streams rather than entering the structure, while traffic in the area was disrupted and officials urged drivers to steer clear.

The fire broke out at 5:33 AM, according to the San José Fire Dept., which reported the blaze as a third-alarm commercial structure fire involving Baja Tires. The department said the building was fully involved by the time crews arrived, and firefighters used aerial master streams to knock down the flames rather than risk an interior attack. As reported by SFGATE, the fire destroyed Baja Tires, which sat at 35 East William Street in the heart of downtown.

#SJFD has a third alarm responding to a commercial structure fire on the 0 block of E William St in Downtown SJ. Baja Tires. Building is fully involved. Crews in defensive operations with aerial master streams. Traffic impacted nearby. Please avoid the area.

TOC: 5:33am pic.twitter.com/u9G4xk6DVl

— San José Fire Dept. (@SJFD) August 25, 2026

Baja Tires had operated as a budget tire shop in the neighborhood, advertising used tires starting at $40 and offering free oil changes with the purchase of four tires, per a Facebook listing for the business. The shop's building was no ordinary storefront: commercial property records reviewed by PropertyShark show the 2,240-square-foot retail structure at that address was originally built in 1922, making it a century-old fixture on the block.

Why Firefighters Went Defensive

The decision to pull back and fight the fire from outside rather than send crews inside reflects standard practice once a fire has grown too dangerous or too large for handline crews to safely manage. Firehouse Magazine notes that defensive operations using aerial master streams, which typically flow upwards of 750 gallons per minute, are deployed specifically when structural collapse risks or the sheer volume of flame make interior firefighting untenable. That description matches what SJFD encountered at Baja Tires, where the building was already fully involved by the time the fire reached its third alarm.

The blaze also carried added hazards tied to the nature of the business itself. Scrap tire fires release thick hydrocarbon smoke containing hazardous toxins and carcinogens such as benzene and benzo(a)pyrene, along with heavy metal runoff, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District advises residents downwind of major smoke plumes to stay indoors with windows and doors closed and to set HVAC systems to recirculate air, guidance aimed at limiting exposure to fine particulate matter for anyone near a fire of this kind.

A Fire in the Heart of SoFA

The 0 block of East William Street sits within Downtown San Jose's SoFA, or South of First Area, an arts and entertainment district known for cultural venues including the City Lights Theater Company, Higher Fire Studios, and the SoFA Market, per WanderBoat AI. The fire's location near South 1st Street placed it close to a stretch of downtown that mixes commercial storefronts with performance spaces and galleries, though the dossier does not detail any impact on those specific venues.

Coverage from the responding stations fell to crews based nearby: downtown San Jose's primary fire response is provided by SJFD Station 1 on North Market Street and Station 3 on Martha Street, both of which house engine and ladder truck companies serving the city's high-density commercial core, according to the RadioReference Wiki. The San José Fire Department overall serves roughly 1.2 million residents across 200 square miles, operating 34 fire stations across six battalions and responding to more than 100,000 calls a year, making it one of the busier fire departments in the country, per the City of San José.

Open Questions and Past Precedent

What sparked the fire at Baja Tires has not been determined, and the dossier does not indicate whether investigators have identified a cause. Multi-alarm commercial fires are not unheard of in San Jose; in June 2023, firefighters responded to a 3-alarm blaze at a Public Storage facility near Blossom Hill and Cottle roads that involved internal explosions and forced road closures, according to Patch.

For now, the San José Fire Department has advised the public to avoid the area around East William Street while crews continue to manage the scene. The department noted that its X account is not monitored 24/7, and asked that any emergency reports be made by calling 9-1-1 rather than through social media.