Who is Cory Allan Martin? Utah man, 26, sets forest ablaze while trying to burn spider with lighter
A forest fire broke in the city of Springville, Utah, after a man tried to burn a spider with his lighter, officials said. The local police said that around 4:43 pm local time on Monday, a call informed them about a mountainside fire.
When they rushed to the scene, they spotted a suspicious man walking his dog near the spot where the fire initially started. When the officers, approached 26-year-old Cory Allan Martin, he supposedly admitted to accidentally sparking the forest fire. Martin told police that when he was hiking around the area, he found a rare spider, and while setting the spider on fire he accidentally sparked some brushes. However, he did not explain what made him burn the spider with his lighter.
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Meanwhile, during the investigation, the deputies found a jar of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Martin’s possession but he did not appear to be high, said Sgt Spencer Cannon of the Utah county sheriff’s department.
The small brush fire sparked by Martin did not take much to cover about 60 acres as that area and majorly the whole of Utah are bone dry amid extreme drought conditions. It took two helicopters for the fire fighting team to get control of the forest blaze. One of the helicopters carried water from an area reservoir to help firefighters battle the flame from the air while they attempted to douse them from the ground.
#SpringvilleFire 60 acres, 10% contained, human caused. Firefighters expect the containment to drastically increase by end of shift. 2 crews, 1 engine and 1 squad will be on scene. A suspect was arrested and booked for this incident.@UWCNF #usfsst pic.twitter.com/hXTGZKyCew
— Utah Fire Info (@UtahWildfire) August 2, 2022
Luckily, around 9 pm, a strong storm moved into the area and helped firefighters win over the blaze. As of Tuesday afternoon, the fire is reported to be 90 percent contained. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, no one was injured in the fire and no structures were threatened by it.
Martin has been arrested by the officials on suspicion of reckless burn and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. As per Utah laws, reckless burning can lead to a possible sentence of a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Not so surprisingly, authorities are still puzzled about why someone would ever try to light a spider.
“Not sure exactly why he felt the need to have to burn the spider,” Sgt Spencer Cannon of Utah county sheriff’s department said. “But you know, all the regret in the world doesn’t change the outcome based on whatever reason there was for him doing that.”
“In this case, his actions were more than, ‘Oops, I accidentally started a fire,’” Cannon continued. “It was reckless to do what he was doing in the way he was doing it. I’m not sure why he felt the need to burn the spider,” Cannon repeated once again.
Even Governor Spencer Cox weighed in on the arrest. "Um, don’t do drugs kids (and don’t start spiders on fire during a drought)," he tweeted on Monday night.