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SALT LAKE CITY -- Flames swept through two Salt Lake City homes Monday afternoon and damaged a third. It took several firefighters more than an hour to battle the blaze.
Firefighters say the fire started between a duplex and a house near 800 South Roberta Street (240 East) around 2 p.m. Crews responded after receiving a 911 call reporting an explosion.
"We believe that the fire started between two buildings," said Salt Lake City Fire spokesman Scott Freitag. "And then it moved along the fence line, along to a third duplex on the south side."
Victor Miranda, a resident of one of the homes, said his kids saw smoke and ran to get out.
"They [saw] smoke, and I go behind the yard, and I [saw] fire in the garage," Martinez said. "And I'm really scared, and I said [to] my kids, 'Get out! Get out!'"
Freitag said fire crews were able to get in the attic of the third home and put out the flames before they did too much damage.
Nearly a dozen people were in the homes when the fire broke out, but the good news is that they were able to get out safely. One person was treated for smoke inhalation.
As for those first reports of an explosion, investigators aren't sure what caused it. They say there were some tires and some propane tanks near the homes that were venting, but they didn't explode.
Firefighters are continuing their investigation.
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Story compiled with contributions from Anne Forester and Paul Nelson.
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