San Juan Bautista’s crew staffing the main fire engine there, typically parked blocks from the blaze that damaged a home on Franklin Circle last week, had been swapping equipment away from the station when it first got a call, adding to its response time, explained Interim Hollister Fire Department Chief Bill Garringer.
The chief’s comments came during a special city council meeting held Monday at San Juan Bautista City Hall, just steps away from the local fire station, and included a report from Garringer along with public comments from residents. Speakers thanked the firefighters that responded but questioned the decline in the city’s number of volunteer firemen since the Hollister Fire Department—which now oversees coverage throughout the county—began staffing the once volunteer-run station 24-7 after a June 2013 agreement.
The fire started when a mechanical failure in the catalytic converter of a truck traveling on Highway 156 sparked four fires in the San Juan Bautista area July 6, including a blaze that heavily damaged a home on Franklin Circle.
“First, I want to give a lot of background,” the interim fire chief said. “There’s been a lot said on social media this week about a 25-minute response time.”
Records pulled by Garringer for the Free Lance last week showed it took San Juan Bautista firefighters about eight minutes to arrive on scene, the chief about 14 minutes, and the two Hollister engines about 15 minutes and 22 minutes, respectively. The firemen faced heavy traffic while driving, the chief told the Free Lance.
At the meeting, Garringer played radio recordings of the dispatch calls and showed video of Hollister’s Engine 13—which briefly drove against oncoming traffic briefly—to arrive at the scene.
Most city council members said the evening opened up communication on the issue, though Councilman Jim West questioned why the meeting was held.
“There was a fire. The fire got put out,” West said. “I’m not sure why I’m here.”
Several council members praised the firefighters for their work, but Tony Boch and Vice Mayor Rick Edge took exception to the president of the firefighters union making comments that the meeting felt like a “trial.”
“Now that I see what happened, you did a good job,” said Boch, who added that it was not a trial and that the group’s duty was to tell the town what was going on. “I fault Caltrans for not cutting those weeds but I’ll take that to the COG (Council of Governments) meeting.”
The next COG meeting is set for Thursday, he said.
San Juan Bautista resident Gabriela Candelaria, who initially expressed concern about response times while watching firemen try to put out a smoldering palm tree, expressed gratitude at the meeting for the firemen’s work. She said the Mission City is on a fault line, which could cause gas breaks and fires in the event of an earthquake, and suggested boosting local reserve numbers.
“My feeling is this is a wake-up call,” said San Juan Bautista resident Mary Edge. “My feeling is we need to increase taxes and have our own fire department and I’d like to see some of these nice firemen come and be at our own fire department.”
Edge referenced the more than a dozen men in uniform standing in the back of city hall, streaming out the door and peering in through some of the open windows.
Fire Capt. Sean Olguin was injured while fighting the blaze and told council members it was “heavy fire conditions” with just three men on the scene initially.
“Would I do it again? Yeah. This is my job. This is their job,” he said, with his arm in a sling. “It’s tough but this is what we do. Nothing else got lost, no one else got injured and no one died.”
San Benito County Supervisors Jerry Muenzer and Anthony Botelho were both in attendance, as was Hollister’s City Manager Bill Avera.
Botelho, who represents San Juan Bautista, spoke with the homeowner who lost property, the firemen on duty at the local firehouse and neighbors, he said.
“And at the end of all that I really felt that as chaotic as the emergency seemed Monday afternoon the call was handled in a very professional fashion from the Hollister department,” he said. “Certainly we all wish the fire engine was across the street but it’s not. In a small county and cities, it takes time to get equipment here.”
