CENTRALIA, Wash. (AP) — Fire officials in Centralia say a resident sparked a small fire in an apartment while trying to kill cockroaches with a homemade flamethrower.
KOMO-TV reports that fire crews were called to the apartment on Monday morning after receiving a report of a commercial structure fire.
By the time firefighters arrived, the resident had extinguished the flames. No one was injured.
A preliminary investigation found that the resident was using bug spray and a lighter to create a flamethrower for killing cockroaches. That sparked the fire.
It's not clear whether any cockroaches were actually killed in the process.