By Sandra Gonzales
The San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two-off duty San Jose firefighters walking precincts to try to defeat two city ballot measures happened to spot flames at a fourplex apartment Sunday morning — and immediately began working.
They grabbed a garden hose, shut off the utilities and evacuated the apartments, San Jose Fire Capt. Barry Stallard said.
And, as it so happened, a fire engine was just four minutes away on a medical aid call. So the engine raced to the 9:53 a.m. fire on Via Monte Drive.
Within an hour, the blaze was contained.
One firefighter, however, suffered a shoulder injury when he fell through a ceiling, and a resident cut his hand when he punched through the glass to get a fire extinguisher.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and most of the damage was confined to the apartment where the fire started, Stallard said.
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