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Residents set kitchen pipe on fire to get rid of bees

2 displaced in house fire
Posted at 4:17 PM, Mar 01, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-02 02:27:56-05

Two people are displaced after a fire used to remove bees from a home Wednesday.

Fire investigators have ruled the fire accidental. There were no reported injuries.
 
Fire dispatchers were notified at 11:59 a.m. Wednesday that there was a possible kitchen fire at a house on Shifting Sands Drive, near Washington Avenue and Jones Boulevard. When firefighters arrived, smoke was showing from the attic area of a two-story wood frame/stucco house.
 
When firefighters entered the home, they found it full of smoke and a fire in the attic area under the roof tile.  The fire took at least a half hour to be completely put out.
 
Fire investigators determined the occupants were using fire to get rid of bees that had taken refuge in an exhaust pipe from the kitchen and came out on the roof of the house. There may have been breaches in the pipe that allowed heat to escape from the exhaust pipe into the wall catching it on fire and extending to the roof which also caught fire.  

The occupant told fire investigators they were using the fire to get rid of bees that were staying in the pipe.
 
The fire caused $120,000 in damage to the house.
 
Firefighters want to remind residents that if they have a bee problem, to hire a professional bee removal service to do the job.
 
The American Red Cross is assisting the two displaced adults.