Residents Discuss Concerns About Warehouse Fire

Watsonville residents have endured three days of smoke as the warehouse fire at continues to smolder through the walls of the historic storage facility.

As firefighters battle the relentless fire, Patch stepped away from the action to address the effect the smoke has had on residents. Although most residents say they weren't affected at all, a few others were concerned—with one resident worrying about the economic impact the fire may entail, and a middle school deciding to keep the kiddies indoors for PE class.

“I know the PE classes all stayed inside [earlier this morning],” Rick Ito, principal at Rolling Hills Middle School, said on Thursday.  “The district sent us a bunch of emails saying 'this is what's going on,' 'be aware' and everything, but it wasn't anything that we felt was putting anyone in danger.”

Rebecca Peña, substitute office manager at Rolling Hills, said she could smell the smoke from the warehouse fire yesterday morning and began worrying about students and staff experiencing respiratory problems.

“At first it was pretty light, but once the wind just started to kick it this way, then it got heavier and you could really smell it—it was strong,” Peña explained. “I was worried that people would start having complications with breathing or irritation, that kind of thing, but at this point we just had to kind of go with it.”

Watsonville resident Grabriel Zaragoza, 21, said the smoke irritated him and his friends as they were driving and that he was able to smell the smoke from his home on the other side of town.

“The smoke blows into the windows of your car and you could smell a chemical smell so it was kind of disturbing—you could get the chemicals in your body and getcha kind of weird,” Zaragoza explained. “Some friends I had yesterday wanted me to close the doors and keep the windows closed in the car and house I was in.”

Jesse Martinez, a security guard at Global Bank in Watsonville, attributed residents' experiences with the smoke to the direction of the wind and commends the fire department for responding quickly.

“Only because of the wind everyone got the breeze of [the smoke,] but other than that the fire department had it under control,” Martinez said. “The smoke was going toward the ocean instead of inland, so a lot of people didn't get as much smoke today as they did yesterday.”

Jon Scofield, 53, of Corralitos said he first learned of the fire after receiving a reverse 911 call, and that he was provided insufficient information regarding any steps he should take to ensure his safety.

“I got a reverse-911 call at 10 at night saying there was a fire in the area with ammonia in the smoke, and it didn't say where it was or anything,” Scofield said. “I was scared because I was in bed and it woke me up and there wasn't enough information to tell me where it was or if I was supposed to do anything or what—it just kind of startled me.”

While residents discuss how the smoke has affected them now, Brett Taylor, who used to deliver apples to the warehouse, says he's concerned about the economic impact the fire could have on the community.

“It's not good because all the apple guys depend on [the warehouse]—they make the Martinelli's apple cider, which is world-wide,” Taylor, 54, of Watsonville explained. “So now if we don't have that building, it's going to take a lot of jobs away.”