A DIY bed bug fix caused a fire that left three people injured and several others homeless, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The incident took place late on Friday in Cincinnati's Avondale neighborhood, where a woman accidently started a fire after trying to kill bed bugs in her first-floor home with alcohol that ignited near an open flame.
Three people had to be taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and 10 people including three teenagers, were displaced from their homes at the five-unit multi-family residence, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Damages were estimated to be at around $250,000.
Among those displaced is Kamaron Lyshe, who described coming home on Friday evening to find the whole house on fire.
"I'm kind of dealing with it now. I'll start from scratch," Lyshe said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "It's like a dream....everything is burnt. I'll start fresh. It's all we can do now."
Lyshe said that the fire destroyed most of the residents' belongings.
"Pretty much everything we got is all up in flames. It's crazy," he said, according to The Washington Post. "Now everything is gone."
A GoFundMe page has been started to help Lyshe and his family rebuild their lives.
The names of the other residents including the woman who started the fire, have not been released, but authorities said this is the second fire to occur in two weeks that was caused by a person trying to kill bed bugs.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported several similar accidental fires in the past, including an incident in 2013 in which a 13-year-old boy attempted to kill bed bugs by dousing the insects with alcohol then lighting a match, setting fire to his apartment building.
The newspaper noted two accidental fires that made headlines in 2012.
The first incident took place in Carlisle, Kentucky, when a woman poured alcohol on her couch but accidently dropped her lit cigarette on it, causing a fire that left about 30 people homeless.
The second incident took place in Indianapolis when a fire devoured a home after two men took their infested couch and chairs to the backyard and set fire to them but were unable to control the flames.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.