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Fire ants burn Little Mountain house down
WIS TV ^ | 20 June 2008 | Bryce Mursch

Posted on 06/20/2008 10:14:33 AM PDT by aomagrat

LITTLE MOUNTAIN, SC (WIS) - A Little Mountain family escaped a house fire. The cause of the fire was an unlikely one, it's one you might find in your back yard.

While hard to believe, it's true -- fire ants ended up starting the blaze.

Homeowner James Southerland explained that "the fire ants had gotten into the pressure switch on the water pump and shorted it out."

Southerland owns what's left of the home. His daughter, Erika, her husband and their daughter, Sonya, live there.

James does electrical work and has seen fire ants getting into electrical boxes and A/C units before, but never this bad.

He says, "I woke up, and it wasn't because I smelled smoke, or because the fire detectors were going off."

Erika was inside the home at the time with her husband. 15-month-old daughter Sonya was asleep in another room.

"I was just frantic and screaming for my husband, and we tried throwing a few cups of water."

The flames were too intense. Fortunately, they all made it out ok.

The home was destroyed, as was most everything inside.

Erika is eight months pregnant, and the timing couldn't have been any worse.

"We thought we were good to go as far as baby stuff, we just had a 15-month-old baby," she said.

"We've already had people in our community and our friends, family to help us a lot, and we're going to need it because this was everything we had."

No injuries were reported.


TOPICS: Local News; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: fireants; southcarolina
Just damn...
1 posted on 06/20/2008 10:14:34 AM PDT by aomagrat
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To: aomagrat

Hey, a squirrel almost burned my house down last December. If I hadn’t been home, it would have. Squirrel chewed through the 210 cord in the wall behind my dryer, causing high amps to go through half the wires instead of all the wires as intended. I noticed smoke behind the dryer, yanked it out and luckily being the paranoid insurance agent I am, had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. If I had thrown water on it, I would have probably died, which was my first instinct. But I emptied the extinguisher, ran and shut off the main electrical box and then dumped two gallons of water on the outlet.

Firemen gave my kids a little award because they did exactly as they were supposed to, all went to the van in the yard and waited and did not move until firemen got them out. They were so proud of themselves, but I was proud of them too.


2 posted on 06/20/2008 10:20:05 AM PDT by Southerngl
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To: aomagrat

Fire Ants in Wisconsin? I expected to see Texas or Louisiana but Wisconson? Didn’t know they’d made it that far north, or that they could survive the winters up there.


3 posted on 06/20/2008 10:21:50 AM PDT by GT Vander (I may be retired, but I'm a Soldier 'till I die!)
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To: aomagrat

Bush’s fault...

(Fire ants migrate north due to global warming which was not stopped due to failure of President to address problem. Therefore, Bush’s fault.)


4 posted on 06/20/2008 10:21:57 AM PDT by CedarDave
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To: aomagrat

A wasp nest in my outside breaker box caused it to short and catch fire. Thank God for brick. :)


5 posted on 06/20/2008 10:22:12 AM PDT by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
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To: GT Vander

Ok, I just reread the article......call me stupid....or blind.


6 posted on 06/20/2008 10:23:05 AM PDT by GT Vander (I may be retired, but I'm a Soldier 'till I die!)
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To: GT Vander
Fire Ants in Wisconsin?

That's what I thought at first, too. Looked a little closer and the station call letters are WIS located in Columbia, South Carolina.

7 posted on 06/20/2008 10:25:29 AM PDT by CedarDave
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To: GT Vander

Nope. Little Mountain, South Carolina is a wide spot in the road a bit northwest of Columbia.

}:-)4


8 posted on 06/20/2008 10:39:36 AM PDT by Moose4 (http://moosedroppings.wordpress.com -- Because 20 million self-important blogs just aren't enough.)
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To: All

Fire ants= SatanicMini-Me........


9 posted on 06/20/2008 10:40:19 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: aomagrat
I've seen exactly the same thing on a pressure switch for a pump for well water. So many ants had died between the electrical contacts that it stopped working/switching.
I was relieved when I saw the problem...it's an easy fix compared to many other possibilities.
10 posted on 06/20/2008 10:52:41 AM PDT by blam
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To: L98Fiero
A wasp nest in my outside breaker box
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
How he got there I'll never know.

11 posted on 06/20/2008 11:09:04 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: aomagrat
I had the same thing happen, but without the fire. My well quit working because little black ants had gotten between the contacts of the pressure switch and kept them from closing. I had to pay a plumber for a house call to find out the problem was something I could have fixed with a popsicle stick and a can of bug spray. The little bastards.
12 posted on 06/20/2008 11:45:30 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: aomagrat
Well, they were FIRE ants, after all. Too bad there weren't any water ants around to put it out.
13 posted on 06/20/2008 11:58:26 AM PDT by Piranha
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To: Piranha
Well, they were FIRE ants, after all. Too bad there weren't any water ants around to put it out

Those crazy ants in Texas eat fire ants for snacks. Your house will still burn down but at least you won't get stung on the way out.

14 posted on 06/20/2008 12:09:30 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
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