Randolph Hearst’s Home Burns

Newspaper magnate Randolph Hearst’s luxurious antique-filled home on Black Mountain was destroyed by a lightning-sparked fire but nobody was inside at the time, officials said today.

Hearst, president of the San Francisco Examiner, had bought the four-story house with its massive stone fireplace and wine cellar in 1978 for $400,000. Firefighters found the upper two stories engulfed in flames when they arrived at 5:26 p.m. Tuesday. There was no source of water for the firefighters at the site so when fire engines ran out of water the house burned to the ground. The glow could be seen as far away as Los Osos, about 20 miles to the southeast.