Man burning cobwebs with a blowtorch sets mom’s house ablaze, Colorado cops say

A homebrew extermination attempt gone awry set fire to a Colorado woman’s home, sheriff’s officials said.

A man told deputies he was burning cobwebs with a propane blowtorch in a crawlspace under his mother’s home north of Longmont on Nov. 1 when the flames flared out of control, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The 39-year-old man tried to put out the fire himself for an hour that afternoon before calling for help, KCNC reported. The blaze did more than $100,000 damage to the home.

The man now faces charges including arson, criminal mischief, possessing a controlled substance and violating a protection order, The Boulder Daily Camera reported.

His mother had previously taken out a restraining order against him but told authorities she had allowed him to live with her after he became homeless, KCNC reported.

Investigators found an area in the crawlspace that was clear of cobwebs with a blowtorch on the ground nearby, The Boulder Daily Camera reported.

The man suffered smoke inhalation but no other injuries were reported, sheriff’s officials said. No one else was home at the time and firefighters extinguished the blaze at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time.

This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Man burning cobwebs with a blowtorch sets mom’s house ablaze, Colorado cops say."