US homeowner burns down 10,000 square feet house while attempting to get rid of snakes

A man’s attempt to get rid of snakes in his house led to his entire house going up in flames, causing more harm to the person.The man, who lives in the US state of Maryland, was trying to smoke out a snake infestation in his 10,000 square feet house on 23 November. The homeowner was facing a recurring issue of snakes in his house and wanted to get rid of the reptiles.He used coals to produce smoke, hoping that which the issue of snakes could be tackled through this method. But he placed the coals too close to the combustible items present in his house, which led to the house catching fire.The Chief Spokesperson for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service, Pete Piringer told CNN that the multi-storey house caught fire very quickly and the fire has initiated from the basement.Piringer also shared several photos of the disastrous incident on his official Twitter account. In the photos, one can see the house being engulfed in flames and the rubble that was left after the fire was extinguished. The status of snakes is not known, but looking at the condition of the house, it is assumed they are no longer in the house.Luckily, the owner of the property was not present when the incident occurred and hence no damages were reported. The smoke in the multi-storey house was seen by a neighbor who eventually called 911.Although firefighters managed to get the situation under control within a few hours, the fire was so huge and devastating that it took around 75 firefighters and an entire night to completely put the fire out.The Chief Spokesperson said that the owner had been troubled with an ongoing issue of snakes and the previous tenant had also complained of the same. Piringer also mentioned that the fire department did not see any evidence of the fire being caused on purpose but said that people should resort to other measures for warding off snakes.He recommended to take help from pest control or animal services to avoid such dangerous disasters.As per public records, the house was purchased recently for a whopping 1.8 million dollars and the damages that the owner will have to bear will cost more than 1 million dollars.Social media users had a variety of reactions to the story, with many questioning why the owner did not call snake removal services.Others asked why the owner did not use another, safer method to get rid of the reptiles.However, some users said that they too would have dealt with the reptiles in the same way.What are your thoughts on the story?