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Berkeley firefighters work on a house where a PG&E gas line ignited at 1711 Martin Luther King Jr. Way on Tuesday March 12, 2013. Fire officials said a gas line under a home probably was punctured by workers. It caught on fire and burned a truck in the driveway and the side of the house. It took PG&E an hour and a half to turn off the gas during which time the fire continued to spew 15 foot flames. No injuries were reported. (Doug Oakley/Staff)

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BERKELEY -- Flames as tall as 15 feet shot into the air as firefighters tried to contain a stubborn natural gas fire at a North Berkeley home Tuesday.

About 2:30 p.m. a gas line ignited and sparked a fire at a home at 1710 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, firefighters said.

No one was home at the time and no injuries were reported. The fire was out shortly after 4 p.m.

Firefighters are not certain what sparked the fire, but a gas line may have been pierced by crews doing excavation work under the home, authorities said. The workers had left by the time the fire started.

It was not clear why, but fire and PG&E crews were not immediately able turn off the gas. They dug up the line using shovels and a jackhammer and capped off the leak.

Damage estimates were not immediately available.

Reach Doug Oakley at doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com. Reach Kristin J. Bender at kbender@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/kjbender.