A damaged scrap metal semi-truck near South First Street and East Alma Avenue forced a shutdown of traffic in a San Jose neighborhood and triggered a precautionary power shutoff that left thousands without electricity for hours.
By the time the call came in around 9:30 a.m., the danger wasn’t abstract. A scrap metal semi-truck with a damaged rear axle was at risk of rolling over near South First Street and East Alma Avenue—close enough that firefighters worried it could hit a power pole.
Traffic was shut down in the neighborhood on Thursday as crews responded. Fire officials said the truck, carrying 78,000 pounds of metal, did not fall over. Still, the risk was enough that the driver’s trouble during a turn onto East Alma Ave. set off a chain reaction.
Pacific Gas & Electric said it was asked to shut off nearby power lines just before 1:30 p.m. as a precaution. The initial outages left as many as 6,900 customers without electricity for most of the afternoon, officials said. By 4 p.m. PG&E reported that 3. 000 of those outages had been restored. and the utility said it hoped to have power fully back by 6 p.m.
PG&E’s target was met: the utility said outages were fully restored by 6 p.m. But that relief didn’t last long. Officials said there was a second outage at around 6 p.m. that affected 3. 770 customers. and they said the cause of the second outage was under investigation and not related to the semi-truck.
For people living through the outages, the problem wasn’t just an inconvenience—it was time. Drew, who did not give his last name, said the power went out, then went out again.
“Everything went out and just had to keep going out to the…first we had to check if the bathroom died and then it’s the whole house. At this point, once I figured out it was the whole street…I’m just worried that the power’s going to be back on before the food in fridge goes bad,” he said.
While utility crews dealt with the neighborhood’s electricity, firefighters and recovery teams worked to stabilize the truck. A Sacred Heart Community Service building in the area was evacuated while crews determined how to safely lift the truck. Two tow trucks arrived at the scene to secure the semi-truck, PG&E said. One fire official described it as an 80,000-pound truck sitting on two tires.
At 5 p.m., the semi had been hitched to the tow truck and appeared to be ready to be towed.
There were no injuries related to the incident.
One witness, Ramiro Ramos, said he saw the moment the truck started failing. He said the axle broke where it was and that metal shot onto the floor. Ramos also spoke with the driver, warning him not to move it.
“You best not move it an inch because if this tilts over, it’ll probably kill the power, probably kill the transformers,” Ramos said.
Authorities have not said whether the semi-truck was involved in a crash or how the axle was damaged. That question remains under investigation. The driver did not report injuries related to the incident. but the neighborhood’s power—and the hours of uncertainty that came with it—was the cost of keeping the situation from getting worse.
The story was written based on information from the San Jose Fire Department and the San Jose Police Department, PG&E, a witness and someone affected by the power outage.
San Jose scrap metal truck PG&E power outage South First Street East Alma Avenue rear axle traffic shutdown tow trucks Sacred Heart Community Service