Firefighters Burned This Nearly $1 million Luxury Mansion to the Ground When They Saw What Was About to Happen: ‘It's Gone, It's Just Gone’

A fire burned down a huge luxury home inch by inch in Texas. And firefighters watched it happen.

Demolition crews purposely set fire to the nearly million-dollar home that once perched above Lake Whitney, but was reduced to ashes Friday within hours.

(Image source: KXAS-TV)

The crews set fire to the home after a massive earth movement caused a large portion of the rock wall supporting the structure to fall away. Rather than allowing the home to fall apart under it's own weight over the 75-foot cliff and have the debris litter the Central Texas lake, the safety crews took matters into their own hands.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday workers were seen bringing in bales of hay and gallons of gasoline into the garage of the home. After the hay was soaked with the flammable gas, it was scattered around the inside of the garage and attic of the 4,000-square-foot home and lit on fire Friday morning, according to KXAS-TV Dallas.

Workers then began breaking out windows and partially knocking holes in some walls to help the fire spread, once it's started. You can watch the home slowly fall apart by clicking below:

The home hung over a 75-foot cliff above Lake Whitney in Texas. Demolition crews determined it would be safer to burn the house as much as possible to prevent added debris from falling into the lake (Image source: KXAS-TV)

Crews prepare for the demolition (Image source: KXAS-TV).

Onlookers lined the lake to watch the scheduled blaze (Image source: KXAS-TV).

Crews prepare for the demolition (Image source: KXAS-TV).

Bales of hay soaked with gasoline were placed in the garage and attic, then lit (Image source: KXAS-TV).

KXAS-TV Dallas covered the event live from a helicopter (Image source: KXAS-TV).

Denise and Robert Webb are the homeowners.

"It's gone. It's just gone," Denise Webb, said. "And you don't see how something that huge can just disintegrate right in front of your face."

"I wanted to leave that to my grandchildren. It's a big hit," Robert Webb said.

When the Webbs purchased the home in 2012, it checked out fine, they say. Geologists and inspectors told them it was perfectly stable, "and so we bought it in good faith," Mr. Webb said.

Sadly, the homeowners were not covered by their insurance for such earth movement. Here is their story, reported prior to the fire:

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(H/T: The Weather Channel)

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