Update: 11 p.m., Bay City News reports that a three-alarm fire that damaged three homes in San Jose and burned for nearly eight hours was put under control late Monday night.
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A three-alarm fire broke out Monday afternoon in a residential San Jose neighborhood, destroying one house and damaging two others.
The blaze began around 3 p.m at a house on Mossbrook Circle between West Hamilton and Campbell avenues, in a neighborhood near Westgate Shopping Center.The fire spread to two adjacent houses, and a dozen people living nearby were evacuated to a nearby school. There have been no reported injuries
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that firefighting efforts were complicated by a broken gas line that fed the flames. According to fire spokesman Capt. Cleo Doss, the fire was being allowed to burn until a PG&E crew could shut down the gas line.
Doss said the fire, fanned by the wind, spread to the houses immediately to the left and right. The fire caused exterior damage to one house and burned about half of the other before firefighters doused the flames on those structures.
As of 5:08 p.m., a fire department spokeswoman said the gas line had been secured, but the fire was not under control.