Colorado Man Who Said He Used Blowtorch to Clear Cobwebs Charged With Arson: Police

A Colorado man was arrested Monday, accused of setting his mother's house on fire with a propane blowtorch in an attempt to remove cobwebs from the property, police said.

Jon Charles Streckenbach, 39, faces charges of first-degree arson and criminal mischief causing $20,000 to $100,000 in damage. He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance and violating a restraining order.

The home was just beyond the city of Longmont in unincorporated Boulder County, in an area that appeared to be highly wooded.

First responders arrived at the home Monday afternoon to find smoke billowing from the residence, according to a statement from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office. At least six different emergency departments responded to the fire, the sheriff said.

Streckenbach told officials that he was attempting to remove cobwebs from a basement crawlspace with a blowtorch when the structure caught fire, police said. He tried to extinguish the blaze himself for an hour before calling 911, according to the Daily Camera.

While the house belonged to Streckenbach's mother, she was not home at the time, and Streckenbach, the only occupant at the time, was able to safely evacuate.

No injuries were reported - aside from minor smoke inhalation - but by the time first responders extinguished the blaze, it had already caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage to the home.

The Camera reported that arson investigators found an area under the crawlspace that had indeed been cleared of cobwebs, along with a blowtorch on the ground.

Investigators also found a bag of methamphetamine in Streckenbach's possession, police said. However, police did not state whether he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the conflagration.

Streckenbach reportedly had a court-issued restraining order against seeing his mother, and was not to have been within 100 feet of the home. However, his mom had been allowing him to stay at the property for a period of time because he was homeless.

Online records showed that Streckenbach had previously received convictions for a variety of other offenses including false reporting, possession of a controlled substance, theft, marijuana distribution, and gaming fraud.

Streckenbach's bond hearing is set for Wednesday.

This is not the first time a significant fire can be linked to an attempt at spider removal.

In 2018, a Fresno, California, man was accused of using fire - also from a blowtorch - to kill black widows in his parents' house. The incident also caused thousands of dollars in damage.

The Fresno Fire Department said at the time that trying to remove vermin with fire "probably was a bad idea."

The Fresno firefighters union also had a simple request: "Please don't use a blowtorch to kill spiders."

Newsweek has reached out to the Lyons Fire Protection District - one of the departments that responded to the Colorado blaze - for comment.