Investigators say a teen party in Walnut Creek Friday night literally “burned down the house,” sparking a fire that gutted a home at 405 Arbol Via and prompting an intensive search for the perpetrators.
A fire department spokesperson put the damage estimate to the home at $750,000, and said that it had been vacant for several months but appeared to have been selected as a “party house” with more than 100 teens in attendance Friday night.
Neighbors contacting NEWS24-680 said “dozens, maybe hundreds” of teens were at the home and had to be dispersed by sheriff’s deputies at 9:10 p.m. Friday, prior to reports of fire breaking out at the residence at 12:31 a.m. Saturday morning. One reader, who asked not to be identified, said the residence had been the scene of several parties in recent months.
First responders reported “heavy fire” in the residence upon arrival, the fire proving difficult to access and to fight due to narrow streets and the home’s location. No firefighters were injured while extinguishing the blaze.
Dawn revealed significant damage to the residence, not far from John Muir Medical Center and a previous, apparently unrelated, blaze on La Casa Via which caused extensive damage to a 4,000 square-foot residence earlier in the week. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation, a ConFire spokesperson said.
Fire District officials say they are investigating the blaze as an arson fire and are asking for anyone with information about the party and resulting fire to contact them.
My God
I have to wonder if in this case life will imitate art with the Dad putting his arm around his miscreant son’s shoulder as he did in the final scene of Project X (while they’re winching his drowned BMW out of the family pool and dousing the embers of the family home) and say: “Son, I didn’t know you had it in you…”
Somehow I don’t think so.
Holy crap. If my dad had been able to prove I was responsible for something like that he would have skinned me alive.
Three quarters of a million. Some kid’s dad just lost his house.
Some kid’s dad just bought hisself a new, but smelly house behind the hospital – whether he wanted it or not.
Hope it was worth it.
It will probably end like this: https://youtu.be/fGdmSXixIRA
Going to be hard to prove individual responsibility I imagine, if all the kids were gone before the fire broke out. Probably a cigarette or joint under a seat cushion. Where’s the owner?
At least in Project X the kid did it to his own home. This is someone else’s property.
“Quiet, festive Walnut Creek location… Open and airy, great views. No windows or walls and slight smoky aftertaste, but great place for parties. Recently reduced to $65,000….”
Vacant for months = foreclosure or abandoned/under water = negative equity = owned by bank = guaranteed by Fannie/Freddie = taxpayers take the hit = they burned down MY house (and all other paying positive taxes, net of gov’t benefits).
This is why you never want a vacant home on your block.
What are those little eye thingies at the top of your storie? With numbers beside them. Are those views?
Hi, Maria… yes, the numbers reflect the number of times a story was “opened” and viewed.
Thanks for reading!
Possible causes – Joint in seat cushion… partier flicked bic while listening to JayZ… neighbors finally had enough and put a torch to it themselves