Homeowner tries to stop snake infestation — and burns down Maryland home, officials say

Julia Marnin
·1 min read

If you find your home infested with snakes, you might need some assistance instead of trying to tackle the reptile problem yourself.

For one homeowner in Maryland, when they tried stopping a snake infestation, they burnt their home to the ground.

The accidental destruction ensued after the homeowner attempted to manage the infestation by smoking the slithering creatures out in Poolesville, Maryland, a Montgomery County Fire and Rescue official said.

It resulted in $1 million in damages.

Flames are seen engulfing the entire home until it was reduced to nearly all rubble in photos shared by Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer on Twitter on Dec. 3 in an update on the house fire that occurred Nov. 23.

“Status of snakes undetermined,” Piringer wrote of the cold-blooded creatures that were in the home, adding that no humans were injured in the fire.

It is believed that the heat source, coals, were “too close to combustibles,” he said. The fire originated in the basement.

McClatchy News has reached out to the county’s fire department for further comment.

Earlier in November, a man in Colorado tried to burn away cobwebs in his mother’s home but it didn’t go as expected, McClatchy News previously reported.

The flames ignited out of his control and caused more than $100,000 in damages.

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