KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Three people died early Saturday when the car they were riding in caught fire after hitting a fence and a tree.

The single-vehicle crash occurred at approximately 2:22 a.m. Saturday on Gold Dust Drive near Paradise Road in Kelseyville, according to Sgt. Nenad Gorenec of the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area Office.

Gorenec said a 2010 Chevy Camaro was traveling westbound on Gold Dust Drive at a high rate of speed when it came to the t-shaped intersection at Wilson Road just past Paradise Road and failed to stop.

He said the Camaro continued straight through the intersection and into a fence. It then bounced off the fence and into a large tree, where it caught fire.

All three male occupants in the vehicle died in the crash, Gorenec said.

Due to the significant impact and the amount of damage the vehicle sustained, “We think they were probably dead before the fire,” Gorenec said of the Camaro’s driver and two passengers.

Kelseyville Fire units responded to the scene and quickly put out the fire resulting from the crash, based on radio reports.

Gorenec said CHP officers were on scene for about three hours, investigating the wreck.

On Sunday he did not yet have an estimate of how fast the Camaro was going at the time the crash occurred.

“The speed was definitely a contributing factor,” he said.

Investigators also won’t know for some time if drugs or alcohol were involved as toxicology tests will need to be done, Gorenec said.

Gorenec on Sunday also was not able to release the identity of the three crash victims.

“We don’t have names yet,” he said. “The coroner’s office is waiting for dental records to make a positive ID.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.