Evacuation orders lifted for East San Jose vegetation fire

article

Firefighters battle vegetation fire in East San Jose. June 17, 2025.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Firefighters with the San Jose Fire Department and Cal Fire got the upper hand in battling a nearly 100-acre vegetation fire that started late Tuesday afternoon. The fire was 75% contained and earlier evacuation orders had been lifted by late evening.

Evacuation orders

What we know:

Forward progress on the fire has been stopped, officials said. The fire department said the fire in the area of the 3500 block of Ranch Place at Old Piedmont Road in East San Jose started just after 4 p.m.

You can see a map of the earlier evacuation zones here. A warning means gather your essential items and be ready to go, whereas an order is an immediate threat to life. In that event, residents must leave the area that is closed to the public.

Piedmont Hills High School at 1377 Piedmont Road has been set up for those evacuated who need a place to go.

You can see more on the evacuations here.

Cal Fire is calling the fire the Ranch Place Fire. Their Santa Clara Unit as well as San Jose's fire dept. have jurisdiction over this fire. They have 170 personnel and 41 engines working on this fire.

At around 4:30 p.m., the San Jose Fire Department said air support was on its way. This fire is burning in the Alum Rock area. Crews are working to secure and implement containment lines, Cal Fire said.

SkyFOX flew above the scene and could see homes in the vicinity of the fire. We did capture air drops as part of the battle against the fire.

‘Hard to breathe’

Local perspective:

One area resident we spoke with said the fire came so close to his home that it was right across the street from him. He said the smoke was so bad it was hard to breathe.

"This taught me that the fire can move pretty quickly just because of the brush," said resident Peter Knazko. He said he didn't think he needed to be prepared to evacuate so quickly as he described the area around his home as sparsely populated by trees.

He said an ambulance responded to the area because of a situation with his landlord's wife.

Knazko didn't notice any structural damage from the fire. He said he hasn't been informed as to when he can return to his home, but he's glad it wasn't worse and if no one was hurt, that's a good thing.

It is not clear how the fire started. The cause is under investigation.

This is a developing story.