Photo: Education Images/UIG (Getty).
If you’ve ever come within a few feet of an opossum, then you know that they’re pretty harmless. I mean, their number one defense mechanism is to act like they’re dead, for Christ’s sake.
Well, according to Yahoo! News, a Lancaster man didn’t see it that way and decided the only way he could scare off the varmints on his property was to build a fire and use the smoke from it as a deterrent.
Yeah, that didn’t go very well. Cue the fire department.
Pennsylvania Man Tries Scaring Opossums By Burning His House Down
Photo: Robert R. Devonshire / Lancaster Online
Authorities said the man used butane to light a pile of leaves in his backyard, but the fire got out of control and eventually spread to the poor guy’s house. The city fire marshal said the building has since been condemned, but the embarrassment for the guy didn’t stop there, as his inability to take care of an opossum like a grown-up also led to one firefighter being admitted to the hospital for a shoulder injury.
Local officials said the man also had a problem with bees on his property, but yeah, not anymore.
