The owner of a vacant luxury house dangling on the edge of a cliff near Lake Whitney in Texas has decided to burn the property on Friday, according to the county's emergency management coordinator, Tom Hemrick.
Teetering atop a crumbling 75-foot cliff over a Central Texas lake, about 60 miles south of Fort Worth, the 4,000-square-foot house will be demolished at 10 a.m. Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Evacuated by the owners about two weeks ago, the house and the property have been condemned. The $700,000 home, including chunks of the cliff, has been tumbling into the water since then.
Officials decided to burn down the house, built in 2008, after ruling out the option of pulling it up by cables onto stable ground.
The couple, who owns the mansion, opened up about having real memories of the home.
"You know, that's my life there that we're watching fall off," Robert Webb told local station WTSP. "I want to leave that to my grandchildren. It's a big hit."
According to New York Daily News, the Webbs might need to bid farewell to a large chunk of their retirement savings. They said their insurance policy likely does not cover "earth movement."
"It's like, 'Is that really my home? Or is that something else that you're watching on TV.' And then you're like, "Good grief, that is my home,'" said Webb, who is currently in Florida. "It's a trying time, certainly."
In 2012, Webbs were assured that the ground was perfectly solid after geologists had inspected the property. But the family started to notice shifts and cracks in the soil in April.
The owner decided to burn the house to its slab foundation after consulting with demolition experts and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hemrick said.
If weather permits, demolition crews are slated to burn down the home Friday. They plan to drill holes in the roof and start a fire in the attic.
If all goes according to plan, they will scrape away the debris after the dream house caves in on itself, according to WFAA.
