Maryland home burns down during owner's ill-fated snake fight
The homeowner was reportedly trying to clear his Montgomery
County home of a snake infestation with smoke, but a fire spread and destroyed
the building.
A large structure fire that destroyed a Maryland home in
November was caused by the homeowner's ill-fated attempt to clear a snake
infestation by smoking them out, according to local fire officials.
According to a tweet from Pete Piringer, public information
officer for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, an investigation
revealed that the fire on Big Woods Road near Poolesville on Nov. 23 was
accidentally caused when the anti-snake smoke source — coals — came too close
to combustibles.
The fire started in the basement walls and floors and then
spread upward, eventually causing over $1 million in damages.
Neighbors saw and reported the fire; nobody was injured.
"It is believed that the heat source was too close to
the combustibles and caused fire in the walls and ceiling area, unknown and
unbeknownst to the homeowner at that time," Piringer said, describing the
destroyed building as a "very large home."
“The snakes the original culprits of this process which
the homeowner was trying to eradicate from this space using smoke apparently
did not go as planned,” Piringer said in a recorded statement on Dec. 3.
Piringer said that insurance investigators have taken over after Montgomery County investigators determined the fire to be accidental in nature
As for the snakes, Piringer thinks they have likely left
"at least temporarily."
"I’m not a wildlife expert but at the time of the fire
some firefighters did see some snake skins while others found one coming out of
the foundation," Piringer said in a text message to NBC News.
Firefighters moved the snake that emerged from the
burned-down home and "were able to retrieve it and move it safely to a
different environment."
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