Building catches fire after truck strikes gas meter in San Jose

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A truck crash caused an explosion, a natural gas scare and a fire San Jose.

The incident happened around 8:45 p.m. when the driver of a black pick-up truck crashed into the gas meter on the side of a tattoo shop at 1141 West San Carlos Street.

Once the truck hit the meter, gas escaped and the fire immediately started.

"It looks like a blow torch coming off of the gas meter, but from our perspective, all hazard all risk," said San Jose Fire Capt. Michael Van Elgort. "We actually know what's happening at that point, so that's why we allowed it to burn a little longer until we could shut it off. Once we could shut it off and knew the gas was controlled, now it's just a structure fire."

The fire spread across the shingle roofed building, which houses not only a tattoo parlor, but music recording and rehearsal studios. Several people were inside when the fire started.

"If our door had been locked, we would have not known for several minutes, or until we started smelling smoke," said evacuee Alvin Gatewood. "Someone came to warn us. Otherwise, we would have been playing and we may have gotten trapped. So, we got lucky. We were able to get out of the building."

Officials are not sure what caused the driver to crash but they say he is cooperating with police.

The musicians' equipment is in the parking lot waiting to be picked up. Preliminary reports are that the majority of the damage is just to the outside of the building. Flames did not reach the inside.