A fire of unknown origin broke out in a garbage sweeper in the
lot of South Valley Disposal and Recycling in east Gilroy. The fire
briefly threatened trucks surrounding the sweeper, and thick black
smoke could be seen across Gilroy in the waning sunlight.
A fire of unknown origin broke out in a garbage sweeper in the lot of South Valley Disposal and Recycling in east Gilroy. The fire briefly threatened trucks surrounding the sweeper, and thick black smoke could be seen across Gilroy in the waning sunlight.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Monday, a passing motorist – who happened to be a firefighter in training – called in the blaze. When a crew arrived at the waste plant, 1351 Pacheco Pass Highway, flames reached six to seven feet above the edge of the sweeper, which itself was about 10 feet tall, Engineer Colette Harmon said.
Yet, firefighters could not get to the fire because the plant’s gates were locked, Harmon said. Support staff made several calls to personnel at the plant but could not reach anyone, according to traffic on the police scanner. The crew cut the gate and entered soon after, Harmon said.
Firefighters fought the fire with two hoses, protecting a nearby garbage truck on the sweeper’s left – the sweeper “was basically already a loss” – and dousing the source of the flames, Harmon said. It was not debris that kept the fire going – the truck was empty – but hydraulic fluid, which “you could hear boiling,” Harmon said.
When firefighters had the flames under control about three minutes later, the sweeper was charred on its left side. The bristles of the sweeper were curled back, the paint was either burned off or covered in dark soot, and the rear left tire had burst and gone flat.
The truck that had been parked nearby was darkened on one side, but had little other noticeable damage. Firefighters broke up the neat rows of trucks to isolate the one that had burned, and one firefighter circled the truck with a thermal imager to scan for hotspots. An acrid smell hovered around the truck.
Firefighters did not know what caused the fire.
“We’ll have to investigate and see,” Harmon said.
