Battalion 5 held “Crystal Command” on a 2-Alarm fire this afternoon on the north side of San Antonio that consumed 2 houses and damaged a 3rd. Engine Co. 48 was first in with “Heavy fire and smoke coming from two, 2-story homes”. Box Alarm companies tried an aggressive interior attack at first, but had to back out and go defensive due to a rapidly evolving situation with major exposure issues. Countless handlines were pulled from Engine 40 and Engine 48’s wagons, as well as the master stream off of Truck 40 and 40's deck monitor. Engine 39 laid almost their entire bed of LDH to secure an additional water supply due to the amount of water being flowed. Multiple downtown companies were relocated to houses on the north side for station coverage during the duration of the fire. Second alarm companies were ultimately released after about an hour and the fire was declared under control after around two hours. I made it pretty late into it, and only caught the mop-up stage.