Story of mouse burning down house proven false
{{date|January 10, 2006}}

Early media reports got it wrong in the case of a [[w:New Mexico|New Mexico]] man's house that burnt down after he tried to destroy a mouse he caught by burning it in a trash fire behind his home.

The wacky story was picked up by news agencies reporting that the burning mouse escaped the fire and scurried back into the home of Luciano Mares, aged 81, of [[w:Fort Sumner, New Mexico|Fort Sumner]]. The mouse allegedly caused a window curtain to ignite, and the fire spread to engulf the entire home. 

Mares later indicated this was untrue.  However, the bonfire did spread to the wooden house, which was completely destroyed as a result, according to local fire officials.

== Sources ==
*{{source|url=http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/5973746/detail.html|title=Flaming Mouse Story Found To Be False|author=|pub=The Hawaii Channel|date=January 10, 2006}}
*{{source|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/10/wmouse10.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/10/ixworld.html|title=Mouse burns down house in revenge|author=Cathering Elsworth|pub=Daily Telegraph|date=January 10, 2006}}
*{{source|url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=68256&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19|title=Mouse sets house on fire|pub=Gulf Times|date=January 10, 2006|author=}}

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[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:New Mexico]]
[[Category:Wackynews]]
[[Category:Disasters and accidents]]
[[Category:Fires]]
Early media reports got it wrong in the case of a New Mexico man's house that burnt down after he tried to destroy a mouse he caught by burning it in a trash fire behind his home.

The wacky story was picked up by news agencies reporting that the burning mouse escaped the fire and scurried back into the home of Luciano Mares, aged 81, of Fort Sumner. The mouse allegedly caused a window curtain to ignite, and the fire spread to engulf the entire home. 

Mares later indicated this was untrue.  However, the bonfire did spread to the wooden house, which was completely destroyed as a result, according to local fire officials.
United States New Mexico Wackynews Disasters and accidents Fires