Arson Suspected in 4-Alarm Fire That Burned Commercial Building in Campbell
CAMPBELL (KPIX) -- A fire in Campbell that sparked Friday morning at a vacant commercial building has been largely reduced but crews will be working through the weekend to achieve complete extinguishment, according to the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
The four-alarm fire was reported at 10:05 a.m. on Knowles Drive near Dell Avenue and sent large amounts of smoke into the air that could be seen from much of the South Bay. Residents were asked to avoid the area.
Friday afternoon, officials said units on scene were operating in a "defensive mode," with firefighters fighting the fire from the building's exterior.
The Los Gatos Creek Trail was closed in both directions.
Sandeep Tiwari lives nearby and said he had to close his windows and doors to keep the smoke and ash out.
"I started to cough ... I don't have asthma or anything and I was like 'Whoa what's this? What am I feeling in my throat?'"
Santa Clara County firefighters were training a block away when the fire broke out and said they were surprised to see it had already consumed much of the building when they arrived mere minutes after getting the call.
"To have the fire advance to that point, it is suspicious and we have our arson investigation team looking into that," said Brian Glass acting chief of Santa Clara County Fire.
After searching the building for about a half hour, firefighters said they switched to "defensive mode" when they didn't find anyone inside and continued to fight the flames from outside the structure.
"We're matching our risk that we're taking with the profile that the building is giving us. There's no lives inside, we're not gonna risk firefighter lives for that," Glass said.
No one was evacuated from the surrounding neighborhood but residents said the air was thick with smoke. Mario Blaum lives nearby and said the air was too harsh to breathe for much of the day.
"It's been terrible. I have asthma. I went with my mask out today because it's unbreathable really," Blaum said.
