Chili Pepper Flea loses house

26-11-2007 15:00

Red Hot Chili Peppers rocker Flea's £2.6 million home has been destroyed by fire.The 45-year-old bassist's luxurious Malibu mansion was "burnt to a crisp" by the wild brush fires which swept through the US state at the weekend.Luckily, Flea - real name Michael Balzary - was not at home at the time of the blaze. Hollywood stars Minnie Driver, 37, and Matthew McConaughey, 38, were among the 20,000 residents forced to evacuate their homes as the flames spread.Britney Spears, Jim Carrey, Sting, Pierce Brosnan, Courteney Cox and Bill Murray's houses were also threatened by the fire, which has destroyed at least 49 multi-million dollar homes.The fire - which is believed to have been started by either arsonists or a falling power line - began at around 3.30am on Saturday (24.11.07) and spread rapidly in the dry conditions and 60mph winds.One of the 1,700 fire-fighters struggling to battle the blaze described it as "like a blowtorch with a huge hairdryer behind it".