Grief and Resilience: San Jose Buddhist Temple Destroyed by Fire for the Second Time

For San Jose's Vietnamese Buddhist community, the loss of Chua Duyen Giac to fire — twice in under two years — is a wound that cuts deep into the cultural and spiritual fabric of a community that has called this city home for decades.

🔥 Three-Alarm Blaze Strikes Again on Foss Avenue

San Jose firefighters responded early on a Monday morning to a three-alarm fire at Chua Duyen Giac, a large two-story mixed-use Buddhist temple located on the 90 block of Foss Avenue. Crews were dispatched just before 6 a.m. and found the structure heavily involved, with a partial roof collapse reported during firefighting operations. Fortunately, no one was inside the building at the time and no injuries were reported. Traffic along Foss Avenue was closed as emergency crews worked the scene. The same temple had suffered a similarly severe three-alarm fire back in May 2024, during which a person was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. [3]

🚒 KTVU Reports on the Scale of the Destruction

KTVU Fox 2 covered the three-alarm fire at the Buddhist temple in San Jose, confirming the significant response required by fire crews to bring the blaze under control. The report highlighted the serious nature of the incident at the Foss Avenue location, which had already been ravaged by fire in a prior year. Emergency personnel worked to contain the fire and manage public safety in the surrounding area. The coverage underscored the recurring tragedy facing this place of worship and its congregation. [4]

🙏 Owner Vows to Rebuild, Fears for Ancestral Remains

NBC Bay Area reported that the back of the Chua Duyen Giac structure was fully involved in flames, posing a threat to neighboring homes before crews successfully contained the fire. Firefighters determined the temple to be a total loss, as it had not yet passed final inspection from its rebuild following the 2024 fire. The temple's owner, speaking off camera, expressed deep concern about recovering the ashes of his ancestors stored inside the building. Despite ongoing challenges including unhoused individuals squatting on the property, the owner stated his intention to rebuild the temple, which has served San Jose's Vietnamese community since 1990. [5]

💔 KQED Chronicles a Community's Repeated Heartbreak

KQED provided in-depth coverage of the destruction of the San José Buddhist temple, framing it as a devastating second major fire in the span of two years. The reporting highlighted the profound loss felt by the congregation and the broader Vietnamese community connected to the Foss Avenue site. The temple's destruction raises difficult questions about recovery, safety, and the resilience needed to rebuild a sacred space from the ground up — again. KQED's coverage drew attention to the compounding hardship faced by the temple community following back-to-back catastrophic fire events. [8]

Sources: [3] ABC7 Bay Area · [4] KTVU · [5] NBC Bay Area · [8] KQED