Strict Command Structure Helped Gilroy Answer Watsonville Fire's Call for Assistance

A team from Gilroy’s Chestnut Fire Station spent the night in Watsonville Thursday, taking over duties in the city while local firefighters battled a blaze burning since Wednesday at the Apple Growers Ice & Cold Storage Co.

Part of a five-engine “strike team” from Santa Clara County, Gilroy’s responders arrived around 8 p.m. and immediately fell in line with a rigid command protocol used during disasters worldwide, known as the Incident Command System (ICS).

“This book is the bible,” said Chestnut Station Capt. Tim Price, thumbing through a palm-sized manual of command chains used in different disasters.

Coordinating the four counties involved in the West Beach fire would be a disaster in itself without the universally used terms and practices in the system, the captain said.

Price said the practices associated with the ICS were useful when coordinating anything, ranging from a large-scale fire to a birthday party.

Gilroy firefighters received an “incident action plan” upon arrival, explaining both their individual roles and the overall picture of the command structure. It included weather reports, nearby medical facilities and a rundown of the mission.

On the document were two goals: Protect life and let the building burn without the fire spreading.

The call for assistance was coordinated through the state’s Office of Emergency Services, the captain said.

After its shift, the team members returned a precise account of their actions to the incident command. After the fire, the cumulative handwritten notes would be combined to form a comprehensive account of the response, Price said.

Higher in the command structure, Price said there would be teams devoted to everything from running the actual fire to keeping tabs of payroll and cost.

“By the next morning, they have a mini city set up out there at the incident—that’s all logistics,” he said.

The team returned to Gilroy after a 12-hour shift. There was one medical call that night, Price said.

The 1928 building in Watsonville's industrial district had stored 300,000-400,000 cases—about $4 million worth—of Martinelli's apple cider and raw apples, according to John Martinelli, owner of S. Martinelli and Co. in Watsonville. Late Wednesday and again Thursday morning, a crew of Martinelli's employees jockeying forklifts and moved hundreds of pallets of product from areas still untouched by the fire.

Workers were able to remove approximately half of their merchandise using forklifts, Bay City News Service reported.

"The building's gone," Watsonville  said around 9 a.m. Thursday, "This is a controlled burn-down. We're not trying to save the building."

Watsonville Patch Local Editor Jennifer Squires contributed to this report.