Bug-Bomb Explosion Rip House Apart

nbc san diego ^ | December 17, 2003 | staff

[Not gonna take it anymore]

NBCSandiego.com

Bug-Bomb Explosion Rip House Apart

19 Defoggers Create Gas 'Bomb'

POSTED: 11:43 AM PST December 17, 2003
UPDATED: 12:16 PM PST December 17, 2003

SAN DIEGO -- A City Heights home was destroyed Wednesday morning by bug bombs.

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IMAGES: Bug Bombs Destroy House

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The owners of the house at 3715 Euclid Ave. reportedly set off 19 bug bombs in the home to exterminate insects, only to have the gas inside the containers fill the house until a pilot light ignited it, tearing the house apart.

The three people who lived in the house were outside at the time of the explosion and were unharmed. A neighbor, who is pregnant, was taken to the hospital after she felt nauseous from breathing the fumes.

Each bug bomb is designed to kill insects in a 700-square-foot area, and the home was reportedly only 470 square feet, said a San Diego police officer, who had originally been called to the neighborhood when somebody reported a truck having struck a house.

"It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this," said the officer. "When we first arrived, we were looking for a vehicle, and then the lady who lives in the house contacted us and told us there was no vehicle, that it was an explosion. So we asked her what happened, and she told us that she had placed the defogger bombs in her house. Fire had arrived and we reached the conclusion that there were 19 defoggers in there, which had created a bomb when the gases reached the pilot light."

The resulting explosion at 8:30 blew the rear of the home off, and a Chrismas tree, some ornaments still hanging from its branches, could be seen yawning out the rear of the building. The house was also knocked off its foundation.

Some of the windows in house were knocked from their frames but, remarkably, remained intact.

A nearby house was also damaged in the explosion when the rear wall fell onto its exterior.

The officer offered advice for homeowners who want to use bug bombs.

"If you're going to utilize this type of defogger, please read the directions," he said. "As you can see, more isn't better."

Copyright 2003 by NBCSandiego.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Not gonna take it anymore]

Oops.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Whyd'ya think they call 'em bug bombs?

[TheRightGuy]

Did any bugs survive the blast?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

The Department of Defense has labeled situations such as this as being "D-Con 5." :)

[breakem]

Darwin Award alert

[Thinkin' Gal]

The resulting explosion at 8:30 blew the rear of the home off, and a Chrismas tree, some ornaments still hanging from its branches, could be seen yawning out the rear of the building. The house was also knocked off its foundation.

It was an ugly tree anyway.

[Poohbah]

Ping.

[Charles Henrickson]

Each bug bomb is designed to kill insects in a 700-square-foot area, and the home was reportedly only 470 square feet. . . .

Let's see . . . 19 bug bombs x 700 . . . that's 13,300 square feet of bug bomb gas in a 470 sq. ft. house. . . .

At least it probably killed all the bugs.

[Not gonna take it anymore]

Can you just imagine using that much bug spray?

The residual smell must be awful and it is probably really bad for your health.

Just another case of, 'if a little is good, a lot is better'.

[Moose4]

Waaiiitt...a 470-square-foot house? Heck, a good ol' South Carolina single-wide's got more square feet than that.

I guess these folks subscribed to the theory of "If you're gonna bug-bomb your house, bug-bomb your house!"

}:-)4

[Charles Henrickson]

MOABB.

[76834]

Wild
Guess you could say that they found out how a piston works.

[mystery-ak]

LOL...19 bombs....I know it's not funny, but.....I bet they still have cockroaches.

[rickmichaels]

The three people who lived in the house...

Their house blowing up is their second claim-to-fame. Their first is that they voted for Al Gore in 2000.

[WorkingClassFilth]

MOABB. Mo' bettah.

[DannyTN]

I bet they are really bugged now!

[EUPHORIC]

This is like the third or forth time this has happened in the past year.

They should be happy the fuel to air ratio was so high from the 19 bug bombs or the explosion could have been much worse.

I must admit that I've used as many as 5 myself in my garage to nuke the black widows. Also succeeded in killing every bug in a 50 foot radius of the garage. Ohhh... No water heater in there and the power was shut off. :)

[ThirstyMan]

The three people who lived in the house were outside
...the home was reportedly only 470 square feet

Wow!!! That's tight quarters there. Three people in only 470 sq ft. They sure don't live like that around here. I guess San Diego rent must be very high. Or OTOH, maybe these folk were the working poor, earning minimum wage by serving us at a coffee/DVD counter somewhere.

[Smogger]

um... you know what to do with this one.

[glorgau]

I wonder if their insurance covers this. It is easily classified as negligence.