The mouse that burnt the house

[Wolfie]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10766971/

 

The mouse that roared in flames

Thrown into fire, trapped critter gets revenge — setting N. M. home ablaze

Updated: 8:01 p.m. ET Jan. 8, 2006

 

FORT SUMNER, N.M. — A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man’s house and set it on fire.

 

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

 

“I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house,” Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

 

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

 

No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

 

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

 

“I’ve seen numerous house fires,” village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, “but nothing as unique as this one.”

 

 

(This story has been updated, read Post #3 for the updated version)

[Wolfie]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10790750/

 

'Flaming Mouse' Story Proven False

 

A small-town rumor that sparked world wide interest in a mouse burning down a house has been found to be untrue. Slideshow: Mouse Story Proves To Be Tall Tale

 

Video: Video Of House Destroyed By Fire

 

After 81-year-old Chano Mares's house burned down Saturday in Fort Sumner, news services picked up the quirky story.

 

"Flaming Mouse Burns Down House" read the headline over an Associated Press story that appeared on worldwide.

 

According to the initial report, Mares threw the critter in a pile of burning leaves near his home, but it ran back to the house on fire.

 

A local firefighter said the mouse ran to just beneath a window and the flames spread up the window and throughout the house.

 

All contents of the home were destroyed, but no one was injured.

 

Interest in fires has been high lately. Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

 

The mouse story, however, has been doused by Mares.

 

"It's really humorous more than anything that a mouse burned down the house," he told KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. The mouse was dead when it hit the burning leaves.

 

Mares said he trapped and killed the critter and tossed it on the fire.

 

The flames, he said, probably reached his house because they were driven by high winds.

 

Capt. Jim Lyssy of the Fort Sumner Fire Department said the rumor probably got started because there was "a little too much excitement" at the time of the fire.

 

Mares lost everything -- and has no insurance -- but the mouse story still makes him smile.

 

"I started laughing, and I'll be laughing from now on," he said. "It's silly."

[Wolfie]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10766971/

 

The mouse that roared in flames — or did it?

Story of trapped critter setting N. M. home ablaze raising questions

 

Updated: 11:56 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2006

 

FORT SUMNER, N.M. - Was it really a mouse that burned down Luciano Mares’ house? Or was it just the wind?

 

Mares’ story of a flaming mouse that scampered from a burning pile of leaves into his rural home Saturday drew international media attention. On Monday, the 81-year-old told an Albuquerque television station that strong wind spread burning leaves, leveling his home of more than two decades.

 

On Tuesday, Mares and his nephew stood by his original version that a mouse was the culprit.

 

“That dang mouse crawled in there,” Mares said in a telephone interview from a motel in Fort Sumner, where he is staying with his nephew. “I have an awful hate for those critters.”

 

In the interview, Mares recounted three times the series of events Saturday: A little mouse got caught in one of the glue traps he’d set in and around his home. He was pleased — mice were a nuisance, they’d been bothering him for some time, leaving droppings everywhere. And they were hard to get rid of. This mouse, too, was resilient — trapped but still moving. The glue was sticky; he couldn’t pull the mouse off.

 

So, according to Mares, he went outside and threw the whole deal — mouse and trap — onto the burning leaves. The mouse, now ablaze, scrambled to safety, then headed back for the house and disappeared inside a window. About 90 seconds later, the house was on fire.

 

WCAU-TV: Flaming mouse story untrue

 

How did the mouse run away, still trapped in the glue?

 

“The fire melted the glue and he got away,” Mares said.

 

Is that plausible? Fort Sumner Fire Chief Juan Chavez said Tuesday he thinks so.

 

“There’s no reason for him to lie about what he told us,” Chaves said. “I don’t doubt it at all.”

 

Fire crews arrived within minutes of the blaze and questioned Mares. “I think he knew right then what happened. It’s the story he told us, it’s the story he told everyone else,” Chavez said.

 

Richard Mares, 37, who is helping his uncle recover from the fire and figure out what the future holds, said his uncle has told him the same story many times.