garden spider

See, my eight-legged brethren and I can be quite useful, catching pest insects inside and outside the home. Please don't aim cans of spray paint and lighters at us. Instead of killing us, you might end up burning your house down, as one Seattle man did on Tuesday.

(Gustaaf Prins/Flickr)

If only he'd tried a vacuum or rolled up newspaper instead ...

A Seattle man is living in a temporary shelter after setting his rental home on fire on Tuesday while trying to kill a spider with a can of spray paint and a lighter.

That may sound like overkill, but, hey, as a lifelong arachnophobe myself, I will say this: Never underestimate the fear of eight-legged home invaders.

Fire crews were called to a house fire in Seattle's Arbor Heights neighborhood around 8:30 p.m., the Seattle Times reports. The man had tried to kill the arachnid on a laundry room wall and instead set the house ablaze, causing an estimated $60,000 in damages.

The man and his mother, who also lived in the house, are now dwelling in a shelter provided by the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, pro tips to fellow arachnophobes: A sheep's wool duster with a long handle also works great for collecting spiders and escorting them to the great outdoors, and there are any number of spider catchers on the market (some of them humane). (We'll skip the discussion on house spider versus outdoor spider habitat and whether a catch-and-release policy is truly humane.)

And then if you're not severely arachnophobic, gardening can provide a great opportunity for easy your fear via spider exposure therapy. Also I find it helpful to read about what amazing and sophisticated creatures spiders have evolved to be. My favorite are the jumping spiders, which possess unique vision and elaborate courtship displays.

— Susannah L. Bodman, sbodman@oregonian.com