Crime & Safety

Fire Engine Goes Down With Small Bridge that Spans Permanente Creek

Eleven households are left stranded after an early-morning medical call is interrupted by a bridge collapse.

Santa Clara County Fire Battalion Chief Joe Parker got the call at 2:38 a.m. Monday.

A fire department crew was on an emergency medical call near Loyola Corners, behind Heritage Oaks Park, in the neighborhood behind Holly Avenue. 

Come down here right away, they said. And bring another engine. 

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"I didn't ask why," Parker said.

They had to negotiate the pitch black, wheeling the stabilized resident through the backyard of another home to get to Holly Avenue to take the resident to the hospital.

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"Then they said, 'Chief, did you see Engine 16?'"

No.

It was in the creek, they said. The creek?

In the darkness, indeed, he could make it out. The headlights were still on. On the other side of the home of the medical call, a small bridge over Permanente Creek had collapsed—right under Engine 16, which had entered the area from the regular way, from Miramonte Avenue. The bridge is privately owned by the same person who owns the secluded cluster of bungalows to the east of Permanente Creek, Parker said. 

The crew was able to get out—the driver had wriggled out of window—and first went to the home to render medical assistance. Then they called Parker.

"The guys were pretty excited," Parker said dryly. 

 The next 15 hours were spent figuring out how to get the fire engine off the broken bridge. A crane was finally brought in, brush trimmed back, and shortly after 5 p.m., the engine was lifted out and placed back onto terra firma.

The California Water Co. worked to try to come up with a temporary solution to restore water, which had been cut off by the bridge collapse, to the affected households. Santa Clara Valley Water District was called because of the amount of debris that was in the creek. When the bridge might be rebuilt is unknown. 

The resident was successfully transported to an area hospital, Parker said.


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