Well, that escalated quickly.

On Tuesday, upon discovering his rental car to be infested with bed bugs, Scott Kemery of Long Island did what any reasonable person would do: he soaked the interior of the car in rubbing alcohol. Some helpful person had told him that saturating the tiny parasites in the highly flammable liquid would kill them, so Kemery went all-out in an Eastport, New York parking lot. I doubt, however, that the sage who doled out the rubbing alcohol advice also recommended what Kemery did next, which was to sit in the alcohol-soaked car and light a cigarette. While I can’t speak to the efficacy of rubbing alcohol to kill bed bugs, I feel confident that lighting a fire violent enough to cause an explosion (see 0:25 in the video) definitely will get rid of any insect infestation.

Luckily, Kemery was able to escape from the blazing car with only 1st- and 2nd-degree burns. The fire also set two neighboring cars alight, causing extensive damage. The bed bugs likely fared worse, as did, presumably, Kemery’s chances of ever renting a car again.

I’m not an exterminator, but should you ever encounter this sort of problem with a rental, my suggestion would be to exchange the infested car for one without bugs before starting an inferno.

3 cars catch fire in Long Island parking lot; Man injured

Man burned in car blaze after he douses interior with alcohol to kill bedbugs