The Best Way To Rid Your Home Of Bed Bugs Is Definitely Not Setting It On Fire
Anyone who’s ever been plagued by bed bugs knows how the little critters can turn your world into an awful, creepy crawly nightmare. But while one man didn’t mean to set his home on fire while trying to rid the house of bed bugs, trying to heat up the suckers with a hair dryer, space heater and heat gun accomplished just that.
Officials tell WPI-TV near Philadelphia that the New Jersey man was battling bed bugs with various heat tools after looking it up on the Internet. Yet another caveat to not believe everything you read on the Web, folks. Even if some people say using excessive heat will get rid of bed bugs, it’s not the safest idea.
“He went online, got some instructions on how to do so. The fire started and he was out here trying to put it out with a garden hose. He suffered smoke inhalation and had to go to the hospital,” his neighbor told the news station.
At first the fire went out quickly, but a subsequent flare-up almost gutted the home.
“Somebody could have been more seriously hurt, luckily that wasn’t the case. But when you’re dealing with the temperatures like we are now, it makes that hazard more dangerous,” said a fire department chief.
Instead of trying to deal with an infestation yourself, the best idea is to call a professional bug buster. Because as one fire marshal noted, otherwise “it’s just a catastrophe in the making.”
We can just picture those pesky little guys dancing around gleefully in the home’s ashes now, cackling evilly. If bugs can cackle, or dance, for that matter.
Woodbury home catches fire during bed bug battle [WPI-TV]
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.