Man trying to kill spider sets fire to gas pump

CENTER LINE, Mich., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Security cameras were rolling at a Michigan gas station when a man attempting to kill a spider with his lighter accidentally set fire to a gas pump.

The CCTV footage from the Mobile station in Center Line shows a man putting gas in his car last week before pulling a lighter from his pocket and creating a flame near his vehicle that quickly ignited the gas pump.

Susan Adams, a clerk at the station, said the man had been attempting to use the lighter to kill a spider he spotted on the car.

Adams said she hit the automatic stop button and summoned the Center Line fire department. She said the man put the flames out with the station's fire extinguisher, but the pump was destroyed.

Adams said the man initially claimed the fire was started by static, but he later admitted the truth.

"I didn't find out until later that he seen a spider and tried to burn it," Adams told WWJ-TV. "Which, the spider did get burned but nothing happened to his car."

The Mobile station's insurance company is expected to pay the cost of repairs.

The clerk said the man returned to the station the following day to apologize to her.

"He was sorry," Adams told WJBK-TV. "He was sorry, he said he didn't know. It is just one of those things that happen -- stupidity."