Firefighters Gaining Control of Apple Growers Blaze

“Really, really well.”

Those were the words Chief Mark Bisbee used to describe how the battle to control a four-alarm fire in the city’s industrial area was going Friday afternoon.

and has gutted a massive cold storage facility.

Friday morning, fire crews switched up their tactics twice.

• First, they changed how water was sprayed on the flames by using solid streams.

• Then, firefighters added foam to the water. “It makes the water a lot more viscous and penetrates it better,” Bisbee explained.

As a result, the fire is diminishing, and the smoky haze that had descended on Watsonville for the past two days is lifting.

“Smoke production is all but nothing, and we’re looking at actually our operation downsizing, and it’ll be into the recovery phase—probably big and heavy in the recovery phase on Monday,” Bisbee said.

was stocked with $4 million worth of Martinelli’s apple juice products and thousands of pounds of apples.

On Thursday, workers retrieved stacks upon stacks of pallets of Martinelli’s apple cider products and more than 600 of cases of Driscoll’s blackberry vines that had been stored in unburned areas of the structure.

“We did a lot of good progress with the salvage,” Bisbee said.

Locals have pitched in where they can. The county’s chapter of the American Red Cross has fed firefighters, and , with offices just down the street, volunteered lighting systems and their bathrooms.

Bonnie House, office services manager at Granite, said lending a hand was natural for the longtime Watsonville company.

“Granite always does that,” she said. “It’s neighbors helping neighbors.”

Fire crews from across the region also have contributed, sending fire engines and trucks from elsewhere in Santa Cruz County as well as Santa Clara, Monterey and San Benito counties.

“Everybody is cooperating,” Bisbee said.

That mutual aid need is expected to diminish this weekend. Three fresh engine companies—from Seaside, Boulder Creek and Felton—were due in Friday for the 12-hour night shift, but Bisbee expects the help will scale down from there.

“We’ve done a really good job of knocking it down,” he said Friday afternoon. “By this time tomorrow, it’ll probably be just Watsonville crews alone.”

The materials used to construct the building—redwood mulch between layers of concrete and walls covered in cork—coupled with the sheer amount of inventory inside the storage facility fueled the fire.

The use of foam on Friday has reduced the smoke output from the fire but poses risk of water contamination.

“It was basically air quality vs. water quality, and air quality trumped … If we can put it out, eliminate the smoke and that irritant, we’ll just use it as judiciously as possible,” Bisbee said of the foam.

Earlier, concern arose about contamination from ammonia used in the cooling process, but nearly all of the hazardous chemical was removed from the site Thursday, and no problems were reported.

No one has been injured, Bisbee pointed out. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

“It’s kind of sad, just because they’ve been here forever,” said House, of Granite Construction. “It’s just part of the town.”