Garbage truck catches fire in SHS back parking lot

Photo by Greg Louie

Prior to the fire department’s arrival, the garbage truck’s trailer was filled with open flame as the trash burnt.

Principal Greg Louie was in an online department chair meeting in his office on Nov. 16 when he was called out to the back parking lot. There, he saw a dump truck with its charred trailer open and a heap of garbage on the ground engulfed in tall flames.

Meanwhile, weekend maintenance supervisor Robert Delfino was attempting to put out the fire with an extinguisher, while a construction team member, who was renovating the 900 wing, and the driver of the truck called 911.

Santa Clara County Fire Department (SCCFD) firefighters who arrived on the scene eventually distinguished the fire. As a result of the coordinated efforts of the fire department, sheriff, city waste management service and maintenance staff, no damage was done to the school.

Louie said that the driver of the truck was driving through Gerald Zappelli Court (which leads to the back parking lot) around noon when he recognized that smoke was rising from his trailer.

The protocol for this situation is for the driver to unload in the middle of an intersection, where the fire and possible explosion can be away from drains and other infrastructures. The driver intended to drive through the back parking lot and come back out, Louie said.

“Unfortunately, the exit gate of our back parking lot was closed and locked, so he dumped his load where he was stuck,” Louie said.

According to Luisa Rapport, Information Specialist for SCCFD, after three hours of removing burning debris from the truck and spraying them with water and firefighting foam, the two dispatched fire trucks distinguished the fire and departed from the scene .

Meanwhile, the campus maintenance team went through the 100, 300 and 500 wings to make sure that no teacher was inside and that the HVAC was turned off so that no smoke would be drawn inside. A sheriff deputy also arrived to divert traffic from the scene.

Afterward, West Valley Collection & Recycling came to scoop up the burned trash and dumped it into a green bin. Since large quantities of the water from the fire hydrant flowed into the nearby storm drain, the city of Saratoga also worked to ensure that the run-off would not pollute the nearby creek.

“Like any emergency, the response was well-coordinated by the community,” Louie said. “Kudos to our maintenance team for being responsive and to our fire department for doing everything they can to put out the fire.”

Due to the way the school’s fire alarms work, the fire in the parking lot did not trigger them. If school was in session, school-wide evacuation would not be the best action, Rapport said, because staying inside the classrooms would actually be safest to avoid smoke.

As a result of the fire, Louie outlined several action items, such as reviewing emergency protocol with all staff and ensuring that all vehicles on campus are registered with visible tags so that the owner can be identified.

But most importantly, the exit gates to the back parking lot will be opened whenever the entrance gates are opened to avoid a similar situation.

Louie does not know the origin of the fire, but SCCFD suspected that flammable contents of the truck cargo was what ignited the fire.

“This is why we remind residents not to throw away smouldering items such as ashes in the trash,” Rapport said.

Studies show that around half of waste vehicle fires are caused by electrical components and 25 percent are caused by hot loads. It's not a matter of negligence or fault on the waste collection company’s part, Louie said.

“The message to families is to be cognizant of what you throw away,” Louie said. “Maybe it's a cigarette that’s still warm, maybe it's a chemical reaction maybe with someone else's trash, who knows what might cause an accident like this.”