Man torches spider, burns down own apartment

(Photo: Pinterest)

A California man set his apartment ablaze when he tried to kill a "huge wolf spider" with a torch-style lighter Sunday.

The spider caught fire, scurried off and ignited a mattress in the Redding apartment.

"It was a huge spider," said Lyndsey Wisegarver, a woman who serves as a caregiver to a man living in the apartment, according to the Record Searchlight.

The fire then spread to a flag collection and nearby drapes.

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Residents scrambled to extinguish the fire with a garden hose, but their efforts were futile.

The blaze spread to a bedroom closet, but firefighters arrived in time to put it out before it entered the attic or neighboring apartments.

Fire at apartment in Redding, California, after man tries to kill a spider with a torch lighter (Photo: Twitter/Fox59 News)

Still, the fire caused about $11,000 in damage. All residents managed to escape, and no one was injured.

Now the man's neighbors are being forced to move out of their homes. Some of the units have been determined to be uninhabitable.

Wisegarver told the Record Searchlight the tenants had been considering moving, and the Sunday incident gave them a reason to move sooner.

"We'll make it work," she said.

Several Twitter users weighed in on the news report, many of whom said they, too, fear huge spiders:

• "Have YOU ever seen the spiders there???? You would torch the place too."
• "One was residing in our storage shed this summer. I wouldn't go in without a spotter."
• "We were looking at a house to buy many years ago, there was one in the bathtub drain. Swear it growled at us. Didn't buy it."
• "But did he get the spider?"
• "Can't really blame him. Better to not take any chances."
• "This seems perfectly reasonable to me."