Fleas Leave, But House Goes Up In Smoke

The method some tenants of a Michigan rental house used to rid their residence of a flea infestation bombed in a big way Sunday.

The fleas are gone now, but their residence is uninhabitable after the gas propellant in one of the 16 flea bombs they set off was ignited by the pilot light on a gas water heater.

“More’s not always better,” Muskegon Township Fire Chief Dave E. Glotzbach told MLive/The Muskegon Chronicle, explaining that four or maybe six of the fogging bombs would have done the trick.

“They were upstairs,” Glotzbach said. “They were downstairs.”

That complicated firefighters’ job when they were called to the Muskegon Township house about 8 p.m. Sunday.

Basement fires are dangerous for firefighters because they have to walk across compromised floorboards and other structural damage.

Glotzbach said the tenants turned off electricity and extinguished several other pilot lights, but overlooked one – and that was enough to ignite the glaze.

“You’ve got to be really careful when you use these things,” he said.

The tenants were not home when the fire erupted – they had left, following correct procedure – and returned to find firefighters dousing their house, WLHT- FM reports. The owner of the house reportedly has casualty insurance, but the tenants do not have rental insurance.

The U.S. Environmental Protection offers tips on the use of foggers, including warnings about using too many.