DONNA JONES
San Jose Mercury News

WATSONVILLE - Firefighters predict a four-alarm fire at Apple Growers Ice & Cold Storage will take days to douse.


Late Wednesday, dozens of firefighters from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were fighting the blaze, first reported at 3:30 p.m.

Parts of Watsonville, particularly the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, were hazy with smoke, and between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. fire officials concerned about air quality and the potential for an ammonia leak made reverse emergency calls to 28,000 phone numbers within a three-mile radius of the fire, warning people to shelter in place. By 10:20 p.m. firefighters said there had been no ammonia leak and no injuries.

"This is an aggressive attack," said Watsonville Battalion Chief Bob Martin Del Campo as firefighters pumped water into the building on West Beach Street from three ladder trucks. "We have almost every rig in the county here."

The fire broke out in the rear of the building in a cold storage room believed to contain apple juice. The 78,000-square-foot mostly concrete structure at 850 W. Beach St. stores apples and vegetables, Phillips said.

Manager Stephanie Phillips, who's worked in the building for 28 years, said employees saw a "little smoke," closed the doors to the room and called 911. All eight employees evacuated safely.

"It was a day like any other day and all of the sudden this," said Phillips.

Heavy smoke and flames were erupting from the building when firefighters arrived. The fire escalated to a second alarm seven minutes later, and a third alarm was called at 4:20. At 5:45 p.m. a fourth alarm sent in a strike team of five engines from Monterey County. Each alarm means a predetermined number of engines respond, though each agency has a different configuration per alarm.

Watsonville Fire Chief Mark Bisbee said firefighters initially attempted to battle the blaze from the inside, but they had to be pulled back due to "zero visibility" and debris falling from the ceiling. The ladder trucks from Watsonville, Central and North Monterey County Fire were then pressed into service.

"We need to keep everybody safe," Bisbee said.

As water poured through the roof, a thick tower of black smoke and flames rose into the sky. While the walls are concrete, the 31 cooling rooms are made of redwood and insulated with ground up redwood and some of the products inside contain plastic.

"We are going to try to save as much of the building as we can," Bisbee said. "Sometimes you can't save the building but that will be our effort and focus."

Firefighters also had to monitor tanks and pipes containing ammonia, used in the refrigeration equipment. Bob Kirkland, the engineer in charge of refrigeration, said the tanks would explode if they got too hot. But Bisbee said he was more worried about the pipes inside the warehouse than the tanks, which are located outside.

Bisbee said the last cold storage warehouse fire on Walker Street was in 1991 and burned for several days. A little before 6 p.m. he said he expected to be on scene at least through the night.

At 7:30 p.m. he gathered top officials to plan the attack through the night and into Thursday. At 10:30 p.m. the fire raged on.

"If we have to be here for the long haul, we'll be here," Bisbee said.

At its high point there were 16 engines with three or four firefighters per crew, 10 chief officers, a strike team from Monterey County and fire crews from as far away as Salinas. Ben Lomond crews covered the Watsonville fire stations as all its crews were tied up with the fire.

About 6:30 p.m. Jeff Martinez watched as the fire spread to the front of the building, flames reaching out toward a power pole. Though the power had been shut off, Martinez worried the pole would catch on fire and topple on nearby live wires, shutting off electricity to the area.

"That's why I'm staying here," said Martinez, who's responsible for refrigeration at California Giant, a block away on Industrial Road.

John Martinelli, owner of S. Martinelli and Co. in Watsonville, said the facility stores apples for his business during the fresh apple season but was holding processed product in the area where the fire was burning, product that can't be replaced at this point in the year because there are no more apples.

"The finished product can burn," he said. "One of the rooms on fire happens to have our 10-ounce plastic bottles in it."

But Martinelli said the company stores product in several warehouses around town.

"It's definitely a crisis on some level," he said. "There's only so much you can do by hand wringing and sweating it out."

Late Wednesday night, forklifts loaded pallet after pallet of Martinelli product out of the scorched warehouse and onto trucks.

Alejandro Sanchez, a Rodriguez Street resident, watched the fire from the back of the building. He said he walked over after hearing the news, and the smoke was so thick he had trouble getting his breath. Standing upwind of the smoke, he said he hated to see the building burn.

"That's the saddest thing to me," Sanchez said. "I like history. I like old buildings."

The concrete and redwood warehouse, which sits on 3.5 acres on Watsonville's cold storage row, was built in 1928 by a cooperative of 23 growers, according to Ron Tyler, former UC Extension farm advisor for Santa Cruz County.

It's assessed value is $1.87 million and has been renovated several times throughout its history, according to county officials. Phillips said it's insured.

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April 20, 2011