Two homes destroyed, one heavily damaged in East San Jose fire

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Three separate fires started in San Jose on Sunday evening, according to the San Jose Fire Department.  

The fires were all reported to be near Quimby Road and Sand Point Drive in east San Jose.  

No injuries have been reported, but fire officials say some residents have been temporarily displaced.  

Fire officials say the wind most likely played a big role in how these fires spread from one block to another. One woman also told KTVU she’s lived on this block for decades and even though her property was damaged, she’s just glad to be safe.  

"I need a new garage now. Definitely. I don’t know how much got into the house. I can’t see. It’s very smokey," said Heather Turner, of San Jose. 

Heather Turner says she’s lived on Sand Point Drive for 40 years but on Sunday, when a fire broke out, her childhood home was in jeopardy.

"I could see a fire in the side yard. Then the glass broke, smoke started coming in. So, then I headed outside and started calling 9-1-1. I could see the fire in between the two houses and for both of us, our garages started going first," said Turner. 

The San Jose Fire Dept. says they were called just before 5pm.  

"The first arriving crews got on scene and found a working garage in one of the residences. While we were conducting an operation, neighbors started to report to the crews on scene that there were other fires starting in the area," said Capt. Thomas Lo, of the San Jose Fire Dept.

Capt. Lo says strong winds most likely carried embers from one side of Sand Point Drive, across Quimby Road to the next block of Sand Point, causing fire damage to other homes.  

"There was the equivalent of a four-alarm fire worth of fire equipment on scene at three different locations. Crews worked very hard in very difficult conditions in this hot weather. They were able to limit the damage to a total of three houses that involved displacement of residents," said Lo. 

Neighbors in the area say they did what they could to help.

"I saw the smoke. I came over here. We were driving, and we saw a house catch on fire right in front of us. We were told there was a blind dude. So, we went running in there and pulled him out," said Abel, of San Jose. 

"I live down the street. We already helped put out two fires. One of them seemed to have started because there were a bunch of dry leaves in the front yard," said Gabriel, of San Jose. 

There was a smell of gas at the scene early on, but the fire dept. didn’t confirm that a gas leak started this fire. The Red Cross did respond to the incident and fire officials say they’ll continue to investigate.

The three fires arrived just as hundreds of firefighters across the Bay Area were battling the Corral Fire south of Livermore.