Man Burns House While Trying To Kill Yellow Jackets

WXII ^ | October 1, 2007 | Unknown

[decimon]

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A Triad man who was trying to rid his home of pesky yellow jackets is now looking for a new home.

Authorities said Hugh Williams sprayed insecticide in a hole next to the St. Andrews Road house on Sunday, but that didn't kill the bugs.

He then stuck paper in the hole and lit it, but the fire spread into the house and the attic, authorities said.

The home on Monday was draped with a blue tarp, and the chimney was bruised with fire soot.

"We certainly do not advocate the burning out of these insects, although it may work," said assistant Greensboro Fire Chief David Douglas.

The family is safe and no injuries were reported, but about $80,000 worth of damage was done to the home.

Fire officials said the house has been condemned until repairs can be made.

Williams did not want to be interviewed.

[Professional Engineer]

#60 for TheBoy

[txhurl]

lol

[tet68]

Yellow Jackets 1
Home owner 0

[CJ Wolf]

The way to kill a Yellow jacket nest is to simply place a clear bowl over the hole in the ground. Do it at night when they aren’t active. They won’t dig around it, but when sun comes out they get confused that they can’t come out. In several days they starve to death. No chemicals or fire.

For the yellow jacket sting, simply take a raw onion and slice it. Place the slice of onion on the sting and you will feel instant relief. The swelling will go away and you won’t have a mark after 30 minutes.

[vetvetdoug]

I use the same insecticide on the yellow jackets that I use on the fire ants, Orthene...I place the powder at the entrance of the nest and they carry it into the nest on their little feets...The powder contaminates the entire nest and in a couple of days they are all sick and/or dead. I have run over my share of the little SOB’s with the lawn mower since I mow at least 7 acres of property here in Mississippi. I have recently read of yellow jacket nests as large as 12 feet by 24 feet in Southern Alabama; a new phenomenon. I have hit large nests while mowing with the tractor and been hit at least 20 or more times. Needless to say, I detest the bugs and will see to their deaths whenever I get a chance.

[maine-iac7]

OMG!

"I" shouldn'tlaugh but, OMG!

I wonder if the 'adviser' thought that was a great idea, was being facetious or malevolent?

[bert]

I like the

WHUMP!

When you pour gas down the hole in the evening at twilight, then light it with a towel tied to a broom stick, there is a fantastic

Whump!

[Billthedrill]

Have you ever picked off the members of some other family before burning down their house?

Well, no...I guess I could put it on my list of things to do. Get gas, check. Buy bread, check. Etc, etc...

[Muleteam1]

Yellowjackets are a piece of cake next to Africanized bees. Here's a nest I took out this last winter. The bees had completely filled four old tires. I had already pulled one tire away before the picture was taken.

[jimfree]

There was the classic cartoon where a homeowner attempted to get rid of a single fly with several different implements including a shotgun.

[decimon]

Those are tires? Where’s the tread? ;-)

That is a lot of honey there. Hope you didn’t pay a price for this.

[tsomer]

Hi Bert.

Yeah I figure it was volatile, and probably some petroleum distillate; gasoline works just as well as the stuff they sell at the hardware store. Cheaper too.

When I was about six, I discovered a neat trick. We found an old bottle of insecticide with a spray pump. It would emit a pretty fair jet of mist if you leaned on the button. What was really cool was when you put a lit candle about 8 inches in front of it. It was like the fourth of July! Your very own dragon in the attic—that’s where we performed these experiments.

Would you believe I’m not a ghost or even an orphan? God was looking out for me!

[decimon]

There was the classic cartoon where a homeowner attempted to get rid of a single fly with several different implements including a shotgun.

Those cartoons came with a moral. People do tend to do stupid things as frustration builds.

[BnBlFlag]

“Williams did not want to be interviewed”.
I wonder why?

[FlyVet]

That’s ingenious. I’ve also seen bug traps that were simply a clear pane of glass over a pan of water like that. They crash into the glass and fall into the water.

[mylife]

[txhurl]

That was a crazy question. hmmmm

I kill an average of two scorpions/wk in my house, and every panic/scream/run/run back/look for can of hotshot/scream some more/fire/run outside episode is unique. I'm totally down with your bro.

[dragnet2]

I hear the bugs in that part of the country are as big as sparrows.

[txhurl]

You were stung as a child, weren’t you?

[Muleteam1]

These were tires in an old storage barn my family inherited. My father-in-law, God bless him, lived during through the depression. Need I say more? He never threw anything away.

After the darn bees attacked me several times while mowing last summer (one went up my nose!) I waited for a really cold west Texas day and went after them, of course with appropraite garb. I had to use a crowbar to break the tires away from the wall then rolled them out of the barn to the open. Even at 5 degrees air temperature I could still hear the little buggers angrily protesting. That night the temperatures got down close to zero yet there were still some bees alive the next morning. I have a great respect (maybe the wrong word?) for these little guys now.