Fire Crews Rescue Occupant from Burning Duplex

Fire crews responded to a third alarm fire at a duplex on Monte Bellow Drive, where a trapped, handicap occupant needed to be rescued. 

Fire crews were dispatched to a structure fire with the possibility of a rescue at 3:03 p.m., and the rescue was confirmed once crews arrived on scene four minutes later, Captain Marc Stelling of the Gilroy Fire Department said.

Stelling said the first on-scene crew went "fire attack," meaning the extent of the smoke, which ran all the way to the floor, was so severe that there was no visibility.

Crews had to extinguish the fire in order to get to the room where the occupant was, and utilized a second crew to assist in the resident's freeing. Fire officials passed the occupant out of the bedroom window where medical personnel were waiting, Stelling said.

The occupant was treated for critical injuries, including smoke inhalation and burns. The awaiting medics immediately provided medical care to the victim and transported him to Saint Louise Regional Hospital by ambulance.

Stelling said the occupant of the second half of the duplex had to be evacuated, too, although the fire did not spread to the other occupant's home.

"The resident from the second part of duplex had to be evacuated. He was handicap and couldn't make it out of his duplex, so we had to have a second crew go in and extricate him as well," Stelling said.

Both parts of the duplex were red tagged, according to Stelling, who said the duplex where the fire occurred was completely gutted, and that the other duplex was red tagged because of smoke that had seeped into it.

It took two battalion chiefs, six engines and one truck to extinguish the fire, which was contained in less than an hour at 3:42 p.m. Santa Clara and South Santa Clara Fire Departments assisted.

Stelling said the cause of the fire is under investigation.