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Vacant Million Dollar Walnut Creek Home Destroyed In Suspicious Fire After 100s Of Teens Throw A Party Inside

WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) -- A vacant million dollar home in the hills of unincorporated Walnut Creek was destroyed by a suspicious fire early Saturday morning mere hours after authorities shut down a party there with as many as 300 teens.

Firefighters were called to the home in the 400 block of Arbol Via behind John Muir Medical Center around 1 a.m, and arrived to find the house completely engulfed in flames.

According to Contra Costa Fire Capt. George Laing, the home was almost completely destroyed.

"The crews were on scene from 1:15 until about five this morning. It was a very stubborn fire, it burned the entire roof, almost all the interior walls, and down through the floor," he said.

"The house is on top of a hill and it's hard for the crews to access the location and difficult to get water up to the area where the fire occurred.

Lang said the home was valued at $1,000,000.

"The home was vacant. We had reports form Contra Costa County Sheriff's deputies that they had chased 100 plus teenagers from a party in this vacant structure about 2 hours prior to the fire," said Laing.

He said the wet weather prevented flying embers from potentially setting other homes and nearby vegetation on fire.

"It could have been much worse. If this were a fire that occurred in the summertime, burning embers could have landed throughout the hills area, and wind could have carried fire to vegetation that involved many other homes."

Another home nearby was destroyed by fire on Wednesday morning. Both cases remain under investigation.

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