just want to get out. you want to make room for those firefighters to get in and do the job. >> and for those in the area not in the evacuation zone but near by, out of an abundance of precaution because you don't know what's in the smoke the chemicals or whatnot in the past the construction fires urged people to stay inside and shutedth windows. this is kpix news atp. >> and we are following breaking news a fire has erupted in santa clara county. it broke out at a building under construction. official are confirming this is an apartment complex. and it sparked just after 11 this morning. we have been watching it for sometime. the fire is by he will cay meana real in santa clara. we just talked about evacuations. they have been ordered for pierce and clay streets. flames at one point shooting at least 30 feet in the air. >> it was scary stuff. shopper 5 is live over the scene white smoke is fill the air which is great news considering it was dark

earlier. multiple crews are responding to the area right now. assist ants from san jose has been requested. multiple hose line are work to knock down the flames. smoke as we said has turned white. it looks like the water seems to be working. they have turned a corn on this fire. >> he will el camino real closed between scott and lincoln stre. keep that in mind if you headed in the area. let firefighters do their job. gong us on the phone is kpix5 lynn. lynn are you there? okay. we will check back in a bit. do we have len? we will check back in in bit. we want to show you video from earlier. large black plumes of smoke fill the sky a short time ago. look at that. the flames just shooting high up into the sky. firefighters surrounding that

condominium complex. crews on ladders working to put that fire out. perimeter was set up fairly quickly. according to witnesses. and someone we talked to who actually posted video on twitter. no word if this is affecting power in the area. but people are being asked to avoid that area. now bystanders are gathering around at the burger king across the street. we saw a denny's from the chopper 5 shot. and that structure just you know completely visible. looks like a total loss. all you can see is the framework. the complex is skeleton blackened by the flames. much of the middle, too, has collapsed. >> yeah. the scaffolding is also visible from the angle. social media users are saying the smoke is visible from the hayward hills. mutual it's a is requested. planes have been seen landing near the area. san jose airport week spoke to her, she is not or the spokesperson said flights are not affected. it's not far from san jose airport at all. >> now we want to check in with

kpix len ramirez len. >> reporter: the fire continues to burn on el camino real and santa clara. we can give you the view of the damage. you can see the flames are coming through some of the plywood on some of the structure that was under construction. this was a big apartment or condo complex called anaterra and they were selling as the sign in front said it would be 56 condos in santa clara. this is a big loss for this development company. and the loss of housing in santa clara county. that's no big -- no small loss as well. but fire department officials from throughout the area santa clara and san jose, continue to put a lot of water on the fear. it does looks like they are knobbing it down just that constant stream of water from some of the big booms there in santa clara are getting the upper hand on this thing. at least from what i can tell

at street level. now this is continuing to put out a lot of smoke. it looks like they have managed to contain the fire. keep it from spreading to the neighboring areas. i saw people on the other side of this development on the roofs with their garden hoses trying to wet that, you know, ceiling and roof area and home down so that embers that may fly into them will not ignite and catch and spread the fire into the surrounding neighborhoods. it does look like things are relatively under control here. we have fire department people spreading more hose lines here as more and more crews come on line. and it looks like we are looking at a guy here on his knees about to let one of the huge jets go. they have been laying lines and they have got looks like the sides of this building covered with the big booms and hook and ladder trucks. but, nothing on the front right now. so this may be something we will watch in the next couple

minutes to see whether or not that hose line comes online. and can get more water on this fire. now, the businesses in the area doesn't look like any have been really shut down. they continue to operate. the road is closed because of all the fire apparatus and hose lines that are here. so you won't get through kale meano real and santa clara for sometime. this continues to burn. we are starting to see some of the superstructure collapse in little pieces, not huge chunks. but the fire department, obviously are keeping their distance because this was a fragile building. it was only a shell and was not a completed structure. so, the likelihood of a collapse and a tip over is very high here. as more and more of the building collapse on itself, it looks like they energized the water hose, vince, if you pull down, you can see the hose here

just coming online with several firefighters here in santa clara wearing their santa clara jackets there. you can tell that they are local crews. and they are energizing that with water, and they will be putting water on it as quickly as they can. the water pressure may have dropped. vince r. you on the street with the shot? you can see the folks down there trying to get water onto the fire itself. but it looks like it energized with water and then all of a sudden, went out again. so, the crews here on the ground waiting for some more water to come so they can put it on the fire. that's pretty must situation from here. we will continue to watch that. this is going to be a big event here for the next several hours i would manual into the evening hours tonight. . >> it lockets important on that side, the side you are showing us, len, because there are flames coming out part of the structure. so, it looks important for

those hoses to, you know, have the water ready to downs the flames. >> and get those work. do you have rough estimates on how many people are out there trying to fight this fire in total? >> reporter: well, it looks -- i can only say dozens and dozens. i can see probably at least a dozen fire trucks from my vantage point and more are arriving a few minutes ago. units were come throughout santa clara and san jose as well. maybe some other nearby cities to lend mutual it's a because the weather is starting to warm up here and the crews battling this now for 45 minute to an hour will be tiring out. and with all the heat, it does take a lot out of them. so, other crews will be come in and. and giving the folks on the fire lines a spell. more water lines are coming on. i can see, looks like 3 or 4

big hose lines that have been energized and they are putting more water on the front of the fire. but the one crew right back here in the front, looks like they are waiting for water. doesn't know what the holdup is, but there's flames right in front of them i know they would love to get the water on the flames. unfortunately, they are not able to do that. the firefighter right there calling to his colleagues trying to get bat water into the hose line so it comes more now. looks like they will get a better pressure this time than they did the first time. i think that's coming from a pumper truck rather than a hydrant on the ground. so, i just heard the nearest pumper truck come on with a little bit more of a rev to the engine. and so this hose line is now fully energized it looks like, and they are getting water right there in the front of the building where flames are still visible. . >> visible coming out of the wood along the frame. len, we have talk with you in a

bit. thanks so much, though, for your perspective there. and again, if you just tuning in, we are covering this construction fire. this is off scott boulevard in el camino real which is a major thorough fare in that area. it is closed right now east and westbound traffic because of this structure fire. this was designed for apartments. an apartment complex. this is video from earlier when this fire just broke out. that was probably about 11:00 this morning. you can see the flames and the thick black smoke. >> what a difference just about an hour has made. you can see that's what it was just an hour ago. and now look at this. that all the kudos go to the fire crews on the scene of which there are many. you heard len ramirez say there are dozens and dozens. we know three responding agencies are on the scene. and boy, it looks like there's a water hose coming from every decks, which is really made the difference there on fighting this fire. we have been keeping an eye on this throughout the last hour.

in the meantime, though, we want to check in with darren who has been keeping an eye on the weather and how it will affect this. i think no surprise, the weather has been one of the good factors here. we are not dealing with strongwinds. if you look at the map lock down to the bottom right hand corner and there's the current reading for san hoe say. that's coming from the airport. and it's a northwest breeze at 7 miles an hour. and in other words, thank you very much the wind was not a major factor on this one. you can see the smoke plume rising off here is also not getting violently whipped around or pushed around. it's pretty much staying in place. in fact, it's going straight up, and then staying in the neighborhood. it may drift a bit here or there, but it's not the kind of situation where you see smoke like this start to go sideways or start moving over other parts of the south bay. however, this smoke went high enough, it's been burning long enough and it was intention enough about 45 minutes ago. the plumes got high enough don't be surprised if you are not in the south bay.

and you are seeing what looks like a plume of smoke off in the distance, we are seeing it from our camera that sits on top of the sales force tower and that camera is 40 miles away. so from 40 miles distant we can see that as well. and that will give you an idea on what you are seeing there. also, it's good story in that it went straight up and you can also tell from the camera as well. but clearly, the best shot is going tonight closeup one from the chopper to give us abird's eye view on what appears to be a fire that they have got a really good handle on, guys. . >> all right. thanks so much, darren. and here is a look at a couple of images from the website for the development. they are called theana tara villas. it was going to offer 56 units. that's a lot. one, 2, and 3 bedroom floor plans in the area. the website boast high end features inside the units. and around the ground there. so, again, this was a major construction site right here, 56 units. as we can tell from the chopper

5 shot, this covers a big area. >> it does. and it's interesting to look at the renderings next to what he been built and what's burning. looks like they were a good way through construction at least to the point that this is going to be a really significant loss to the builder and developer at this point. of course, firefighters are on the ground trying to do whatever they can. they made significant headway on this. in just the last half-hour, say 45 minutes, they have taken a fire that was burning, what seemed to be out of control, with flames 30 feet in the air, you could see it from the a significant distance of the not just the smoke buckets flames, and knocked it back to this. now, of course, this is not great news either. but it's certainly. certainly better than flames roaring up into the air. at this point, they have an evacuation in place right now. that is right at clay and pierce. clay to pierce streets on the backside of the construction site, and they are asking all others to simply stay away from

the area. el camino real a. majoro thorough fare that will back up traffic closed from scott to lincoln to give the crews enough time and space to fight this battle. >> and they are fighting. this is an attack on all sides of the major construction site. you can see why. this is a residential and business area. there are businesses across the street. and a lot of trees around. and also, a the love homes, especially on the backside of this building at least from this view from chopper 5. this is, again, a what we are hearing now a construction worker may have been hurt trying to escape the firech. >> we will check in on that. let's go to the ground where len ramirez, do you have any information further on that potential injury? >> reporter: well week don't have any specific information on the potential injury, but i can tell you when we arrived there was a lot of construction people leaving this area. this is an active construction site as you can see. there are firefighters all over the place. and there were about an hour

ago, a lot of construction crews in this area. it was an active site. so we had maybe 100, 150 workers in this area. now when something like this gets started, because it is exposed and the windows are opened and there's a lot of air that can flow through, this leets up like a chimney and really goes quickly. so, if workers might have beentrapped in the interior areas, that could have been a big problem for somebody. we don't note extent of injuries at this point. but we have a white helmet here. so let me try to get an interview. hey, chief, we are on live with kpix. >> there's the guy you want to talk to right over that way. >> reporter: anything about injuries. >> i don't have any information about that. >> reporter: how is it looking so far. >> the fire is pretty much knocked down so it looks good. >> reporter: what are the specific -- >> right over there tote incident commander. >> reporter: that was battalion chief sadler i directed me to a

fire information officer in this air yai. can't tell where the person is. i will keep going. this is the santa clara fire department you are look at right now. they have a very high pressure hose as you can see the two gentlemen there putting their body weight on that hose because these things are very hard to handle when they have so much pressure. they are continuing to be small explosions, maybe some propane tanks that were used for power, things like that. by the construction crews that we continue to hear going off. we continue to see small pieces of flames here and there, but you heard the battalion chief say for the most part, this fire has been knocked down. they got it under control right now. they are just putting more and more water on it. and they are hoping to get flames and whatever hot spots that are left you know doused with water so they won't come back. now, the big danger is all that scaffolding. a lot of the scaffolding was put up for construction purpose and goes through stories high. and those things can be very dangerous when they don't have,

you know, the attachment to the walls and things like that that bushed away. that's a danger sign. firefighters are keeping their distance because they don't want one of those things to come down on a fire crew as they continue to fight the fire. but, again, very, be you know, fortunate situation in that the winds didn't really push this fire into neighboring areas. there's a neighborhood on the other side of our vantage point here. in santa clara and unlike thesan tan's row fire several years ago that caught while the place was under construction, there was wind and it happened in the afternoon. wind were up. and the flames and embers were pushed into a apartment complex causing several more fires. but it does look like things aregetting under control in santa clara. reporting live in santa clara, len ramirez, back to you. >> all right len, thanks so much. we want to go to chief shapell

helpmen with the fire protection district are you there? >> i am. >> can you let u know, how do you big on a structure so big to fight the flames. >> the first thing i am sure they looked at is what's around it that will burn. the structure like you see, it's going to be a total loss. so, you know the firefighters are going to set the mass and appliances and that's the aerial ladder trucks and large are appliance on the ground and deck guns off the engine companies. but what you don't want to have happen is len said a minute ago, and happened on santana row, and there's no wind today so it was going straight up, but equally, the radiant heat and fire from the main body there, you don't want that transferring it to exposures, meaning, other structures around it. so they will try to cut it off, if you want to call it that, from burning something else meaning they will contain it to the structure of origin. as you saw, they have done a good job of putting up

appliance and they will get knocked down on the fire. . >> we are learning from the santa clara county fire department they have 10 engines, three trucks, 5 chief officers and ambulances in the scope of fighting fires where does this fall in severity. >> i am sure it sound like they are a third alarm. and you know, at this point, like i said, once they get the masses stroams set up, aerial ladder trucks and you will see the guys down the street with the larger 2 1/2 inch hose lines, with what we call stingers or large apply ands they will deliver a lot of water. but it's a matter of time here. and they are going to need -- this is total loss. they will have to scrape the place and start over. this is the danger of open web wood construction. we have seen it all over on santana row and emoryville and oakland. some of us all of us in the fire business is concerned about. this rush to develop, created,

you know, many times using the types of products, it's an unsafe situation if they are not sprinkling and have security on-site. since a workday who knows if they were doing hot work where they were running pipes. something started the fire-it may never be known, but it's total loss. so, again, good news it sounds like no one lost their life. and at this point, doesn't sound like exposure truck structures or others people's property was damaged or detroit. >> we got a update the spread of the fire has been stopped. that one worker was injured escaping the fire and taken to the hospital. they are trying to work on the extent of the jersey. fire on marshal is on scene to investigate. what does that looks like moving forward? >> the first them i would do and this is up to them. but it was a problem at santana row as we saw bring atf in there. alcohol, tobacco and firearms. the a lab and more resources. they are. another entity that can help with the fire investigation.

it doesn't hurt to do that but the sad part about open frame wood is you may never find out because that area of origin, it may be completely destroyed. really, what this is a house of kindeling. and so once it gets going, there's no stopping it. other than, you know, the firefighters standing around as you see, and operating the large hose lines. and they will try to get it knocked down. they have done a good job. >> they have done a really good job about containing it inside the frame of that apartment complex. you know, something that len ramirez talked about just a short time ago and that i've seen covering fires as well is there are homes that are close to this unit right here. and so homeowners instead of evacuating, were on top of the roofs as len said with garden hoses to try to protect their own homes. talk about the danger in doing that. >> well, it's a danger always for any exposure fire. meaning other than the structures of or general. the homeowners they want to stick around, if it's burning

because they want to ensure their property is not going to burn as well. but there's a risk in doing that. you can get burned. you can fall. there's a lot of things that could happen. ideally the for fighter get there in time and they take over with the larger diameter hoses and also the right protective equipment and the knowledge of what we do in the business to make sure that those exposures don't burn and looks like right now, that is successful. i am not sure if anything got melted. radiant heat coming off one of the fires is tremendous, i am sure people who are there can feel it across el camino. that's how hot it will be. >> chief, there's a lot of smoke and there's more smoke earlier i know from covering the construction fires in the past, that there are all sorts of chemicals on-site. is there a health concern involved with this? >> well, i wouldn't -- i saw it myself. it's going straight up. that's a good sign. i mean, any time you see there's a couple things of smoke you look for which is what's it doing. so when you got a header like

you see there where the smoke is going straight up, that's good. it's going to hit the one stratosphere and spread out. that's not unusual. it's going to get the jet stream. so when it's going straight up, there's no wind. and that's a lot better for the firefighters because it's not getting the increased boost of having the wind blow into it and stoke it further. but, it turns the exposures you see. you don't want to breath it. you know, looks like it's primarily wood, but i am sure you will have other paper products, construction items on scene, like different tanks and so forth that they may be using for different purpose. so, yeah, any time it's going straight up, that's good. when you see white smoke that's better. the fire going out. >> that's what we are seeing right now. is the white smoke. that's good that fuel is burning off. chief with the mend low park fire protection district, thanks so much. >> you bet. . >> right now, we want to look at video from just about an hour and a half ago when the fire broke out. this is from brian on twitter

who posted this video on twitter. look how intense those flames were burning this apartment complex under construction. you can hear all the siren in the background there with the thick plumes of black smoke just going in the air. and at one point, the flames were shooting 30 to 50 feet in the air. >> we had a camera that was miles away at least it t seemed miles away and you can see the flames in the air and it was really, really a scary situation. but, again, as you heard the chief say, the smoke was going up and we attribute that to the weather. let's go to darren peck with what influence it has on fighting a fire. one of the things i can point out, and the camera is farther away than the pictures we have been showing is the camera that sits on top of the sales force tower you can see the plume of smoke rising and that camera is 40 miles away. and one of the things you can see from that, i know it might be difficult to peck it out if you are watching, but look at the live bug see where it says sales force tower look

underthat. the dark patch of sky is the plume of smoke off the fire. and remember, this camera is 40 miles away from where that smokeis starting from. now that smoke is going to be able to rise to 10,000 feet before the wind start shifting on it. and even at that, the winds shift to more of a southerly direction. which means they would start to take that higher plume of smoke completely out of the bay area. and move it down to the south. so, i think that's a good sign in terms of air call the quality. we heard the smoke was going almost directly up. so you weren't really going to have to worry about much of an issue for air quality. on two fronts, for those down not south bay i mean, if you are very close to this you probably want to avoid it because there could be small remnants that you could encounter in terms of breathing in air you don't want. but in terms of the airport, the smoke stayed confined. and it was able to rise in one steady plume and it probably didn't have to have a big impacton air travel either just

in case you got to get to the airport and pick somebody up. that's pretty must weather impact on the guys. thankfully, this was a good weather day for this to happen. >> yeah. thankfully. we are thankful for that. thanks. we want to go back now to the field with len are a mere hose is on the ground right there. len, what is the latest update sis we talked to you. . >> reporter: the fire continues to burn in small pockets but the foyer fight gets bigger and bigger. and see down the street here. this is el camino real at pierce. and there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 major hose lines shooting water probably 100 to 150 feet across the street and into the fire area. the fire department is keeping their distance from the fire. they are just putting the hoses on the exterior structure trying to keep it from spreading. down if we look through the mist that is being created by

the hose lines, you can see the fire apparatus in the neighborhood street. i did get a look at that earlier. there's a lineup of several fire trucks all up and down the street for fire protection. that's one of the first things the department did when they saw this fire how big it was, they put units into the surrounding street to protect homes and lives, and people who may not be able to evacuate. now that area, i understand, is under an evacuation order and so the fire department is protecting it. earlier today, there were people with garden hoses on the roofs trying to wet things down to keep the fire from spreading onto their property. it appears that the fire has been contained to this one construction site. the condos that will be built here so that's very good news. but this will continue to be a very hot scene for the next several hours. reporting live in santa clara, len ramirez, kpix5. we want to give you another update from the santa clara fire chief. the spread of the fire is stopped but one worker was

injured trying to escape the flames. we doesn't note extent of the injuries right now. but we are going to keep an eye on that for sure. >> he has been transported to the hospital. of course, on the scene there are at least 10 engines, throw struck trucks 5 chief officers rescue air and light units and two ambulances. >> and we are going to continue to keep an eye on this. of course you can get all of the latest information on our website, kpix.com. and, of course, come back here at 5:00 tonight. >> thanks so much. enjoy the rest of your day.

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