Man Sets Himself And House On Fire Trying To Kill Bedbugs

A man has accidentally set himself and his Detroit apartment
on fire while trying to kill bedbugs. The 30-year-old tenant sprayed rubbing
alcohol on his couch and body at 4:30 a.m. last Sunday in a bid to eliminate
the pests.

He then sat down and lit a cigarette, which he used to try
to burn one of the critters. But the alcohol-soaked chair immediately caught
fire.

The seat, his arm and the rest of his eighth-floor apartment
at the St. Antoine Gardens complex in Midtown went up in flames. The man
escaped the devastating blaze but suffered severe burns and was then rushed to
a nearby hospital.

Johanahn Larsosa, another resident at the complex, saw the
man in the lobby and prayed with him at his request before emergency crews
arrived. “He was melting,” Larsosa told the Detroit Free Press.
“I was scared. He was screaming.”

The injured man was taken to hospital, and he is now
recovering.

Detroit firefighters helped evacuate the complex as
poisonous smoke filled up its hallways, according to Fox 2 Detroit. The blaze reportedly
spread to four other homes but was later put out. Two dozen more apartments also
received severe water damage.

Further reports say the blaze left multiple residents in the
120-unit building, which mainly houses people on Section 8 assistance,
displaced. Others are unable to take showers or cook in their apartments, and
some tenants are sleeping on cots in the community room.

Millennia Housing Management (MHM), which manages the
complex, said it was restoring the four fire-hit apartments and would clean the
others up as soon as possible. A city inspector ruled ten units as
uninhabitable. MHM said it was also working alongside the Red Cross to find
temporary housing for other displaced tenants, per WXYZ.

Residents said the complex is infested with bedbugs, and
multiple complaints regarding the issue had previously been filed, per the
Detroit Free Press. MHM has not commented on those allegations.