FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – A Fresno man using a blowtorch to kill black widow spiders caused a two-alarm fire.
It happened in Northeast Fresno on Tuesday night near Woodward Lake.
Fresno Fire crews responded to the home on the 500 block of East Mariner’s Circle, just before 11:00 p.m.
Fire damaged the home’s second story and attic.
Firefighters say no one was injured in the fire. The man made it out safely
He told crews he was house-sitting for his parents.
MORE: PETA sends a bug catcher to the Fresno man who set his parents Woodward park house on fire…trying to kill spiders.
Michael Lanovara is the Fresno man who saw black widows in his parent’s home, so he brought out a blowtorch.
As he should – at least according to many people on Facebook who read the story – but not PETA’s Kearney Weiland Robinson.
“There’s no need to blowtorch or kill spiders, who are sentient and intelligent. Spiders have been known to solve mazes, think ahead, they’re been know to play beek-a-boo, to attract mates,” said Robinson.
Some people will never get close enough to see a spider play peek-a-boo.
“Just because an animal is small or different from us is no reason to think that that they don’t value their lives as much as we do ours,” said Robinson.
Robinson is an outreach coordinator for the animal rights group working hard to convince KMJ reporter Liz Kern, an arachnaphobe, that a humane spider trap is the answer.
“I hope you change your views on spiders, (laughs),” Robinson tells KMJ’s Liz Kern.
“Nope,” says Kern.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’S Liz Kern:
