Fire Torches Two Trailers
n by Christopher Quirk staff writer
Gilroy – A Wednesday-morning blaze destroyed two trailers, burned tree branches 30 feet above the ground and brought trailer park residents out of their homes to gawk.
Gilroy Fire Department crews responded to a call at 3:54am at the Twin Palms Mobile Home Park, 8224 Church St., to find two structures engulfed in flames. The fire burned for about 40 minutes before fire crews put it out, and left one trailer without a roof and two walls and the other without an awning, roof or a left wall. Even after fire crews cleared the collapsed roofs, the inside of the partially melted trailers remained an indistinguishable mess of charred items.
“It was huge,” park resident Jose Cruz said of the fire, pointing to a massive pine tree above the trailers that had been burned all the way up on one side.
“All the people were out here,” added resident Diego Gomez, who lived across the small street from the burned trailers.
Despite the trailers being within five feet of other trailers on either side, there was only minimal damage to an awning of one of the neighboring trailers, fire investigator Andy Holiday said. This speaks to the quality response of the fire crews, he added.
County Joins ‘Cool Counties’ List
San Jose – The Santa Clara County supervisors have agreed to spend more than $11.3 millon on making the county a more responsilbe eco-citizen. On Sept. 25, supervisors agreed to spend the funds in pursuit of their participation in the Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration.
The “Cool Counties” Initiative was launched on July 16, 2007, by 12 counties representing 17 million people, at the meeting of the National Association of Counties (NACO) in Richmond, Virginia. To fulfill the U.S. Cool Counties promises to the public, the elected officials of the participating Cool Counties will need to be extensively engaged at the state and federal levels to get the legislation and funding needed to shift the national economy from fossil fuels to alternative energies, and to develop and deploy energy-efficient technologies, among other strategies.
Registrar Encourages Voting by Mail
San Jose – The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office began mailing permanent vote by mail applications to an estimated 380,000 registered voters this week.
Once the ballot is completed, it is sealed in the provided return envelope, which must be signed by the voter. Ballots can be returned by mail, in person at the registrar’s office, or at any Santa Clara County polling place election day. All ballots must be received at the registrar’s office by 8pm election day (postmarks not accepted).
Permanent vote by mail is an option available to all registered voters. Voters who receive the application in the mail only have to sign the postage-paid reply card and drop it in the mail.
Details: www.sccvote.org or the Registrar of Voters’ Office at (866) 430-VOTE.
