Neighbors used garden hoses to battle a fire that threatened their homes on Monday morning in San Jose.

The fire started in a nearby homeless encampment at the corner of Genevieve Lane and Tish Drive on Monday morning as firefighters battled flames shooting over the sound wall along southbound 880 in Central San Jose. Moments before, Steve Von Konski, and other neighbors were trying to put the fire out with garden hoses.

“We were afraid of something like this happening,” Von Konski said. “We have north wind and it could have been just like Santa Rosa. We could have lost the whole neighborhood.”

Cindy Bartoo lives nearest to the fire.

“I’m at work and my neighbor sends me a picture of a wall of flame over my house,” Bartoo said.

On the neighborhood side, the fire was consuming a thick hedge of ivy growing on the sound wall. On the other side, where the fire started, is a homeless camp.

The offramp was shut down as the flames burned trees, dry vegetation, and pretty much everything in the camp, says Batallion Chief Darren Wallace.

“You have everything here, nylon tents, paper products, cooking gear,” San Jose Fire Battalion Chief Darren Wallace said. “Open flames, dry grass, it’s just a recipe for fire”

This is a recipe for disaster, says Bartoo, who put up a ladder for KRON4 to see over the wall behind her home and into the camp where she says trash has been piling up for months.

“My house could have caught on fire, and I have animals that were stuck in there and might have burned to death,” Bartoo said.

Fires like this are not uncommon as both the city and Caltrans have been sweeping such camps all summer only to see them return. Residents here say they have made many complaints about smoke from the camp drifting into their neighborhood every day.

“We’ve been worried about this for a long time,” Von Konski said.

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