Indoor Foggers...

Man has close call when home explodes 

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Subject:   Man has close call when home explodes----------
Date:       Tue, 03 Oct 2000 17:02:32 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might find the following article on just another danger in using your "registered" POISONS to "control" pest problems.  The article is entitled: Man has close call when home explodes - Apartment's pilot light ignites foggers. By Louis Galvan - The Fresno Bee - Published October 1, 2000).

Leroy Napoleon was just getting into his car Saturday when his home exploded.

The blast sent window glass flying in every direction from the one-bedroom apartment in southeast Fresno, narrowly missing two passers-by. The ceiling bulged upward and the plaster splintered.

"I thought I had shut off the pilot light in the water heater," said Napoleon, who just moments before had opened two pest foggers in his home.

"I guess I didn't."

Tim Henry, a Fresno Fire battalion chief, said Napoleon, 61, opened the devices -- one in the kitchen and the other in the living room. In just moments, a flame from the kitchen water heater ignited the fumes.

"This is all it took to cause all that damage," said Henry, holding up a can that had held only 1.5 ounces of pesticide -- advertised to kill roaches and other critters.

Warning labels on the containers described the contents as highly flammable and explosive. Instructions warn to shut off all burners and pilot lights.

The explosion was reported about 12:30 p.m. in the 3300 block of East Alta Avenue.

Fellow tenant Mike Gonzales, 42, said he and a friend where walking by Napoleon's apartment when the explosion went off. Shards of glass flew as far as 10 feet, missing Gonzales and his friend by inches.

It could have been worse.

Napoleon told investigators that moments before the blast, he realized he had left his pager behind.

He started to go back inside, but changed his mind.

"He's lucky he didn't ..." said a firefighter.

Well Mr. Helliker, obviously this is just another fine BOMB that you have "registered".

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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