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This was in The Charlotte Observer

Flames destroyed a $1.7 million Lake Norman home Wednesday morning, after the owner's fiance tried to jump-start a Porsche in the garage, friends of the family said.

By midafternoon, firefighters from eight departments were still putting out hot spots in the lakefront house, which sent reams of smoke into the clear sky over Lake Norman, as curious neighbors came to watch. The occupants of the house were not injured; a firefighter suffered a minor injury, Iredell County Deputy Fire Marshal Lloyd Ramsey said.

The house, at 126 Pointe Harbour Lane, is in the Harbour subdivision off Brawley School Road in south Iredell. Fire officials identified the owner of the house as Cecile Ebert, 33, a commercial real estate developer. Ebert could not be reached.

Ramsey and Eddie Neel, former chief and safety officer of the Lake Norman Volunteer Fire Department, said they had not yet determined the fire's cause.

Mark Lancaster, a friend of Ebert's, said the fire started in the garage, where Ebert's fiance, Tommy Walters, was trying to start a rarely driven Porsche.

"Tommy, her fiance, was going to start the car because it was a nice day, a Porsche convertible," Lancaster said. "He put a trickle charger on it. That didn't charge it up good, so he put some jumper cables to charge it. He went to get a cup of coffee, came back out, and both vehicles were on fire."

Walters had attached the jumper cables to a Chevrolet Tahoe, Lancaster said. "He went and got Cecile out of the house," Lancaster said. "She was back in her bedroom. (They) got the dogs out, and they couldn't get anything else out."

According to Iredell County property records, the 2 1/2 story house was valued at $1.7 million in 2003, with 8,808 total square feet, 6,873 heated.