Mouse Burns House Down

[Dragon]

Just an article I wanted to share.

FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- The village fire captain says he's never seen one as unique as this.
A Fort Sumner, New Mexico, man says he caught a mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

He had a pile of leaves burning outside, so he threw the mouse on it. The mouse caught fire and ran back into the house.

Eighty-one-year-old Luciano Mares talked about the event Sunday from a motel room.

The blaze the mouse started destroyed the home and everything inside it.



There are other alternative ways to get rid of a mouse and I'm not sure why he chose to burn it. I think it's wrong of him to do it in the first place. I wonder if he will get charged with anything but I'm sure he's learned his lesson.

 

[AngelsPeak]

I read that story on Monday and the update yesterday. This story will be going around for a while, but the mouse actually DID NOT burn the house down the man admitted.
Apparantly it was already dead when he threw it into the fire, he thinks the wind blew sparks onto his home causing it to ignite.
Unfortunately he lost everything in the fire and had no insurance.:shake:

 

[Dragon]

I never knew there was an updated story about it. It's too bad that he didn't have inusrance but hopefully he can get some kind of assistance. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mirage]

Oh man that's unfortunate.

If the mouse did actually catch fire and run back into the house that's super unfortunate. A bit unlikely though, maybe in a movie, but I think a burning mouse wouldn't make it that far, since I'm assuming he doesn't burn leaves directly next to his house..

 

[iggyshotthebear]

Oh man that's unfortunate.

If the mouse did actually catch fire and run back into the house that's super unfortunate. A bit unlikely though, maybe in a movie, but I think a burning mouse wouldn't make it that far, since I'm assuming he doesn't burn leaves directly next to his house..

I burn leaves directly next to my house lol... standing there with the water hose though.

 

[AngelsPeak]

Hare ya go Dragon..........

Flaming Mouse Story Found To Be False
Rumor Squashed: Flaming Mouse Didn't Start House Fire

UPDATED: 9:39 am EST January 10, 2006

FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- A small -town rumor that sparked world -wide interest about a mouse burning down a house has been found to be untrue.

After 81-year-old Chano Mares's house burned down Saturday in Fort Sumner, news services picked up the quirky story.

"Flaming Mouse Burns Down House" read the headline over an Associated Press story that appeared on ClickOnDetroit.com, for example.

According to the initial report, Mares threw the critter in a pile of burning leaves near his home, but it ran back to the house on fire.

A local firefighter said the mouse ran to just beneath a window and the flames spread up the window and throughout the house.

All contents of the home were destroyed, but no one was injured.

Interest in fires has been high lately. Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

The mouse story, however, has been doused by Mares.

"It's really humorous more than anything that a mouse burned down the house," he told KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. The mouse was dead when it hit the burning leaves.

Mares said he trapped and killed the critter and tossed it on the fire.

The flames, he said, probably reached his house because they were driven by high winds.

Capt. Jim Lyssy of the Fort Sumner Fire Department said the rumor probably got started because there was "a little too much excitement" at the time of the fire.

Mares lost everything -- and has no insurance -- but the mouse story still makes him smile.

"I started laughing, and I'll be laughing from now on," he said. "It's silly."

Previous Story:
January 9, 2006: Burning Mouse Ignites Blaze That Destroys Home