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San Jose Man Who Lit Candle During Wind Storm Power Outage Likely Caused Apartment Fire

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- Strong winds may have inadvertently caused a fire that damaged an apartment unit in South San Jose Tuesday night.

A man living in an apartment complex on Rancho Drive and Seven Trees Blvd went outside to cut a tree brought down by the high winds when his Christmas tree in the unit caught fire, possibly by the candles that were left burning.

"He had candles lit in the apartment," said San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow. "He also had a fire in his fireplace and animals running freely in the apartment so its possible one of the animals knocked a candle over, but we don't know at this point what the cause of the fire is."

Two people were displaced and one was taken to the hospital.

COMPLETE WIND STORM COVERAGE:

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