'Fire on both sides of the road': Witness describes evacuating from San Jose foothills fire
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The fire that burned more than 90 acres in the San Jose foothills has been fully contained but a day later, crews are still along the hills keeping an eye on hotspots.
Two firefighters were injured but officials say they'll be okay. Crews tell us a new safety notification app went into effect before the fire that may have helped here, too.
"Literally at one point we tried to spray down the house because we just weren't sure where it was gonna go!"
That's Aimee Wheeler describing the situation Tuesday where fire appeared to be coming straight at the ranch she lives on, just off of Sierra Road.
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As crews started to close roads because of the fire, she came back to get her dogs. Then the challenge was getting out.
"There was just fire on both sides of the road, nothing but smoke, you couldn't see like five feet in front of you in the car and the car was filling with smoke, had to turn around and go out the back way," says Wheeler.
Fortunately, she was able to get out. 92 acres burned but from video taken Wednesday, nearly 24 hours later, you can see that nearby homes like Wheeler's were spared, and animals saved.
"As the flames were coming up they were rushing along the fire line to get all the horses to come back up here to safety where it's mowed down and where we have a firebreak closer to this house and luckily that's what saved us," said Cesar Ambriz who was concerned that the ranch structures might catch fire.
San Jose fire officials tell us that hours before this fire they became part of the free Genasys Protect app. Meaning those who had signed up were directly notified about evacuations.
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"To a specific neighborhood so people here would get the notification but if you live on the west side of San Jose where you're not affected, you wouldn't get a notification on your phone," said San Jose Fire Battalion Chief Brad Cloutier.
Those we talked with in the area weren't aware of the app, but were all outside, closely watching the situation unfold on Tuesday.
"As the smoke moved up you could see the flames moving up. I needed to see how bad it was gonna be when I knew it was gonna miss my street, then I was comfortable but I still wasn't comfortable until I saw them putting it out because it was out of control," said a neighbor by the name of Karen.
"Looking back on things, honestly just so grateful that it did somehow go around the house and not straight through because our house was built quite a while ago, it's pretty old so if that thing goes up, it goes up, no stopping it," said Wheeler.
If you live in San Jose and would like to sign up for the Genasys Protect App, click here.
