Rochester: (585) 426-5024 | Buffalo: (716) 249-6769 | Syracuse: (315) 214-7069

Woman Charged With Arson After Lighting Apartment On Fire To Kill Bed Bugs

    Woman Charged With Arson After Lighting Apartment On Fire To Kill Bed Bugs

    A Wayne County Woman Was Charged With Arson After She Lit Her Apartment On Fire In A Misguided Effort To Kill The Bed Bugs Infesting Her Home

    It would not be an exaggeration to call bed bugs a scourge upon humankind, as infestations of the insects are becoming progressively more common all around the world with each passing year. Although bed bugs are largely recognized as a global pest species, the United States sees the worst of the world’s bed bug-related issues. This is especially true in the northeast US where the dense population and large metropolitan areas allow bed bugs to spread rapidly from location-to-location in the region. While bed bugs are well understood to be nuisance pests, there is a popular movement to have the insects classified as a public health threat. One of the worst aspects of a bed bug infestation is the fact that the tiny pests cannot be eradicated with do-it-yourself methods. Unfortunately, one woman living in a bed bug-infested Wayne County apartment building refused to accept this fact; instead, she resorted to a particularly novel technique to rid her living space of the extraordinarily annoying creatures. This technique consisted of lighting a fire within her apartment unit, and while the application of heat is a legitimate bed bug eradication method, this woman’s foray into amatueur pest control could have seen all the tenants in her apartment complex eradicated as well. Unsurprisingly, the woman’s actions earned her a fourth degree arson charge.

    After the police and fire crew arrived to investigate the cause of the fire, the woman claimed that she had used her lighter to kill the bed bugs infesting her home. Unfortunately, shortly before resorting to this desperate plan to rid her home of the infestation, her uncle had applied heavy amounts of alcohol to the apartment unit’s interior. Perhaps the woman never found chemistry to be one of her academic strengths, but had she given this questionable procedure greater thought, she may have anticipated the blaze before it took place. The apartment building’s sprinkler and alarm system activated after the fire spread to her mattress. As a result, the unit was heavily damaged and water leaked into neighboring apartment units. The woman was charged with arson and was ordered to appear in court not long afterward.

    Have you ever experienced extreme frustration over an indoor insect pest infestation?

     

     

    Contact Town & Country for a quote today!

    Style Switcher

    Layout options
    Header options
    Accent Color Examples
    Background Examples (boxed-only)
    View all options →