UPDATE: Wind-Driven Fire Destroys Two Homes

A large, wind-driven fire gutted two homes on the 600 block of Andrews Street Thursday afternoon, officials said.

An adjacent third home also was damaged, said Joe Rodondi, Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department deputy fire chief.

At 12:41 p.m., emergency crews were sent to the north Livermore neighborhood for a report of a house on fire.

Officer David Eveler was first to arrive on scene.

Both homes were fully engulfed in flames reaching up to 20 feet high, he said.

The blaze was then upgraded to a two-alarm fire, with 15 fire units responding along with mutual aid, Rodondi said.

Curt Foote lives at 677 Andrew St. — one of the destroyed homes.

Foote, who lives alone, said in an interview with Livermore Patch that he was asleep when the fire erupted.

"I woke up and there was a lot of smoke inside my home," he said.

Foote speculated that the fire could have started in his living room after a frensel lens reflected sunlight onto a stack of newspapers.

However, firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze and exactly where it started, Rodondi said. 

The other lost home in the fire was unoccupied at the time. A firefighter suffered a hand injury in the incident, Rodondi said.

Winds in the area were forecast to be out of the north at 30 to 45 mph during the day Thursday, decreasing to 20 to 30 mph in the evening.