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They didn’t light it, but they tried to fight it!
A Minnesota landlord intentionally set his apartment ablaze while blasting the Billy Joel hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” — prompting neighbors to frantically call for help, according to police.
Travis Lee Carlson, 37, was spotted by a tenant allegedly smashing the windows of his home in Duluth while bizarrely wearing a helmet at around 3:30 a.m. on May 18, according to a criminal complaint cited by the NBC affiliate Kare 11.
Neighbors awoke to the sound of him rocking out to the classic 1989 tune while “breaking things” in his second-floor apartment, according to the report.
A tenant then saw Carlson with gas cans near his truck — followed by a flash “like a fireball” ripping through the abode, prompting the tenant to call 911, according to wsaz.com.
At one point, Carlson knocked on a neighbor’s apartment door and informed him, “The house is on fire,” according to police. The sound of the Long Island legend’s song could be heard blaring from his unit.
When fire investigators arrived at around 4 a.m., they found a hole drilled in the gas tank of Carlson’s truck along with “burned accelerant,” a sign the fuel had been funneled from his vehicle to start the fire.
They also allegedly found wires torn out of a nearly electrical panel.
Carlson was charged with third-degree arson, and his bail was set at $75,000. He suffered burn injuries on his arms and legs.
Firefighters put out the flames and nobody else was reported hurt.
