Man burnt trying to catch spider (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)
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Man burnt trying to catch spider
11:48am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in News
FIREFIGHTERS in Clacton were called when a man suffered flash burns... after chasing a spider.
The 28-year-old man was sent into the bathroom to capture a spider seen by his wife.
He tried to spray the bug with an aerosol to force it out from behind the toilet bowl.
When this failed, the man flicked on his lighter as the bathroom bulb had blown in their house in Oxford Road.
The resulting explosion flung the man back into the hallway and gave him flash burns on his head, legs and torso.
Two appliances from White Watch attended the incident after his wife raised the alarm, but the fire was out before crews arrived at the scene on Monday.
They gave first aid to the man, who had jumped in the shower to relieve his burns, until ambulance crews arrived. He was taken to Colchester General Hospital for treatment.
A spokeswoman for Essex Fire and Rescue Service warned the public about the risk of using aerosols with a naked flame.
“We would always recommend that people use a torch if the lights have gone out,” she said.
“We are not entirely sure if the spider got away or not, but there was no sign of it at the scene.”
Comments(2)
Mr Anory. Jack
says...
9:53am Fri 3 Sep 10
I have been informed the good old vacum cleaner will do the job very well, even at arms length girls, just switch on, point at creepy spider, and be gone.
you can always leave the naughty spider in the vacum cleaner "outside"
till a brave person comes along.
Mr Anory. Jack says...
12:45pm Tue 31 Aug 10
OK, lets be sensible a bit on here,
if you go spraying aerosol contents in a confined space or room, being forced out of a small nozel under pressure by a highly imflamable gas, then light an open flame device such as a lighter to "look"
you will find more than you bargained for in the first instance.
Just hope the poor guy will be ok after treatment.
Once I lit a gas stove, that had been left partialy on but not lit.
took most my eyebrows of in a "flash"
BIG lesson learned though!