Photograph by Paul Myers
Members of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno SWAT team gear up for a training routine into Calvary Church's empty building. At right is the fire department's thermal-imaging camera.
Local firefighters and police train in church hall that is to be demolished
By Gloria I. Wang
Police officers and firefighters have found a new and unusual venue for their training exercises: an empty church building in a Los Gatos neighborhood. The 20,000-square-foot Brown Hall on Calvary Church's campus has been used for SWAT team routines, K-9 squad practices and fire search-and-rescue techniques in the past few weeks. On Nov. 4, the building is expected to be demolished to make way for the construction of the church's new gymnasium. But before that happens, law enforcement officials and emergency personnel will inhabit the place.
"I decided a long time ago that I would offer Brown Hall to police and fire," said Steve Torres, Calvary's construction manager. Calvary's plan for a new building was approved in 1998, after a long battle with the surrounding neighborhood and the town.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Police officers use the Santa Clara County Fire Department's thermal-imaging camera, which detects heat through smoke.
Teresa Meisenbach, firefighter engineer from the training division of the fire department, said she had been excited when Torres told her about the building and could barely wait for the opportunity to train in it. "I probably bugged [Torres] a lot, saying, 'Is it done yet? Is it done yet?'" Meisenbach said.
According to Meisenbach, people donate houses on occasion, but never any structure as large as Brown Hall. "This is a golden opportunity," Meisenbach said.
"They told us, 'Do whatever you want to do with the building as long as it doesn't disturb the neighbors,'" said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Sergeant Kerry Harris. Harris said that Brown Hall is unique from other facilities in which the SWAT team trains because the design is similar to that of other buildings in town, and because it will be demolished.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Police officers mill around the Santa Clara County Fire Department's thermal-imaging camera.
The church moved out of Brown Hall in August, and the police department first used it in September. Since then, the building has been used at least once a week by both agencies. They will continue to train there until the end of the month, when Calvary high schoolers will construct an elaborate maze inside as part of their Halloween activities.
The gym's 1998 approval was the result of a 2 1/2-year process in which the neighbors had objected to virtually every aspect of the development. But because of the latest usage of Brown Hall, Torres says, the neighbors have been supportive of the church. "One hundred percent of them said, 'If it's for police and fire, absolutely,'" Torres said.
"The neighbors have actually been great to work with," Torres said. "Sometimes you have to bite your tongue and admit, 'Hey, maybe they do have a point.'"
Photograph by Paul Myers
Sergeant Kerry Harris, of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, explains how to use night vision goggles at a SWAT team training at Calvary Church.
Robie Lane resident Dorothy Lowe says that although the neighbors are still unhappy with what they call "over-development" on the Calvary Church campus, allowing police and fire personnel to use Brown Hall "is definitely a point on the good side ... especially now, when people are so keenly interested to make sure that our emergency services are prepared."
Several police officers went around the neighborhood before they started training, Lowe says, and either spoke with residents or left fliers to inform them what was going to happen. "They represented their respective departments quite adequately," Lowe said. Lowe said that there has been less disruption and noise in the neighborhood caused by the training and construction than she expected.
With Brown Hall, Meisenbach said, firefighters are able to practice under scenarios such as a simulated hotel fire and other "low-frequency, high-risk" situations.
Photograph by Paul Myers
The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno SWAT team heads into an empty Calvary Church building as part of a training exercise in conjunction with county fire.
Harris says the SWAT team was able to train for situations such as hostage scenarios, school violence incidents and barricaded subject situations.
The team usually does routines at Fort Ord's FBI Tactical Training Center, certain office and school buildings in town and Santa Clara Valley Water District plants. Up until August, the team was able to use Guadalupe College with the permission of property owner Joe McCarthy. The site, however, was demolished to make way for McCarthy's residential development.
Torres says that the gymnasium is in the second phase of the church's expansion project. Construction is expected to be completed before November 2002.
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