A fire did extensive damage to two houses Wednesday morning and left residents of a group home without a place to live. It started just before noon on the 2700 block of Ensign Avenue in New Hope. The cloud of smoke could be seen for miles around. It was so heavy that when the wind shifted, visibility became limited. “The fire quickly jumped from one house to another. It started in a group home and then within minutes, it spread to the house next door,” West Metro Fire Chief Sarah Larson said. “We had to attack them defensively. So we had to put them out from the outside.”