Three-alarm fire at San Mateo high-rise

January 02, 2012, 04:55 PM By Bill Silverfarb Daily Journal staff

Several firefighter crews descended on the corner of El Camino Real and Fourth Avenue in San Mateo this afternoon after a three-alarm fire broke out on the 11th floor of a building that houses the office of U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo. The San Mateo Fire Department responded to the call after a fire alarm went off at about 3 p.m. When fire crews first arrived, workers in the building who were vacating it via a stairwell informed the firefighters there was a fire and smoke on one of the upper floors, San Mateo Fire Chief Dan Belville told the Daily Journal. A computer or fax machine caught fire in a property management office on the 11th floor, Belville said, and activated two sprinkler heads. The building is 14 stories tall and some rooms on the upper floors were filled with smoke. There were no injuries, Belville said. The entire building was evacuated for more than two hours as firefighters cleared the building of smoke and water, Belville said. “It could have been a lot worse,” he said. Although Speier’s fourth floor office was closed today for the federal holiday, one of her chief staff members, Brian Perkins, was working when the alarms sounded. Perkins vacated the building and watched the scene from afar as many other workers in the building did. The building also houses the sixth floor district office of state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo but that office was also closed today for the holiday. GLB Encino, LLC, a property management firm, has an office on the 11th floor but it is unclear whether the company occupies the entire floor, Belville said. Three alarms were called because of the building’s size, Belville said. “The building is so big it just eats up firefighters,” he said. Foster City, Cal Fire and Central County firefighters also responded to the call. Bill Silverfarb can be reached by email: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.