Los Lagos fire under investigation

Granite Bay's exclusive Los Lagos community was the site of a Saturday night blaze that destroyed an 8,000-square-foot mansion– and fire investigators are trying to find out what started it.Crews responded to the fire, at the 9000 block of Vista Del Lago, at 9:55 p.m. Saturday to find the structure fully engulfed.It took firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control, said Bob Richardson, Fire Marshal for the South Placer Fire District. By then, the structure was nearly totally ruined."Basically, as soon as they started the initial attack it collapsed," Richardson said.No injuries were reported, Richardson said, a fact he called "amazing."The home's occupants were not there at the time of the fire, he said, and a cause was not immediately known.The two-alarm blaze brought eight engines to the internationally-known gated community, which boasts Folsom Lake views and is home to Hollywood types and several Sacramento Kings basketball players. Actor Eddie Murphy sold his home there earlier this year.Richardson estimated the home to be worth $2.9 million, but said the structure remains too shake to get an accurate damage estimate. Most of the damage was sustained to the center of the structure.On Monday, he said officials were trying to install stabilizing equipment so fire and insurance investigators could begin their work."The house is in a state where structurally, it's very unstable to go inside until we get some equipment out here to make it safe to begin an investigation," he said.The incident marks the second fire this year to strike an exclusive gated Granite Bay gated community.In March, blaze caused at least $1 million in damage to a home in Wexford, a guard-gated community of multimillion-dollar homes. The cause of that fire was later deemed arson.Anyone with information about the Los Lagos fire is asked to call the South Placer Fire District at 791-7059 or (530) 889-7800.Reach Nathan Donato-Weinstein at nathand@goldcountrymedia.com