A Utah man was arrested after being accused of starting a forest fire while trying to burn and kill a spider with his lighter.
Cory Allan Martin, of 26-year-old told deputies he saw the spider Monday while hiking in the hills south of Salt Lake City, near of the City of Springville, show a statement of probable cause.
So, Allan Martin acknowledged starting the fire, but did not explain why he was trying to burn the chandelier.
However, agents found a vial of marijuana in his belongings, although he did not appear to be drugged, according to the county sheriff’s sergeant of Utah, Spencer Cannon.
There is no evidence to suggest that he intentionally started the fire, Cannon said, but called it “a reckless and baffling decision.” This area and most of Utah are bone dry amid extreme drought conditions.
“What made you stop and notice a spider and decide to try to burn it, we don’t know” Canon said. “There may not be a why. He may not even know why.
Martin was arrested on suspicion of reckless burning and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, court documents show.
He was in the Utah County jail this Tuesday with a bail of almost $2,000 dollars and it is not known if he had a lawyer to represent him.
The forest fire spread rapidly through the mountain and had burned less than 1 square mile (1 square kilometer) as of Tuesday, firefighters at the scene announced. No houses were damaged after the fire.
Also read:
· Extreme heat alert: four people have died this summer in New York and the temperature will rise more this week
· Two people died inside a car in the middle of the McKinney Fire, in northern California
· Video: Fire destroys more than 250 businesses in a market in Venezuela