San Jose firefighters knock down two-alarm barn fire

SAN JOSE — Fire crews responded to a two-alarm fire at a barn in San Jose on Monday afternoon, bringing the flames under control in less than an hour.

A fire was initially reported at 3:50 p.m. for a single-story house on the 2500 block of Monterey Road. Later, fire officials determined that the fire was actually on a small parallel street called Healey Avenue and the structure on fire was actually a barn, not a house. Traffic was briefly impacted in both directions on Monterey Road.

The fire was initially a full first alarm but it was upgraded to a second alarm at 3:55 p.m. The fire was contained to the barn and did not spread to the nearby house.

There were live powerlines that were down and had to be deenergized by Pacific Gas & Electric, fire officials said. There was also “exploding ammunition” for guns stored inside the barn, so fire crews began to attack the fire from a defensive operation until the ammunition concern had resolved itself.

While the fire was being brought under control, VTA service in the immediate area was interrupted and three dogs were taken off the property, according to a post on the social media platform X.

The fire was knocked down at 4:45 p.m. with no injuries to residents or firefighters. The barn and its contents were completely destroyed in the blaze. The cause of the fire is under investigation.