Perhaps unsurprisingly, the idea didn’t go over so well, Gawker reports. The Orlando fire department pulled the man out of his apartment, which eventually burned down completely.
An officer who inspected the man’s apartment called the apartment “deplorable” and told the Orlando Sentinel:
“There was trash and empty beer cans covering the majority of the floor in the living area and the kitchen. The bedroom where most of the fire damage occurred was also filled with trash and cans.”
The man will not be charged with a crime, though police have filed paperwork to have the man committed to a hospital under the Baker Act, as he’s been described as “a danger to himself as others.” No other units were damaged.
This isn’t the first time attempts to burn a pest have backfired. In 2006, a man attempted to kill a mouse by throwing it into a pile of burning leaves — only the mouse ran back into his house and set the whole building on fire.