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Man started bushfire ‘trying to burn spider with lighter’

A man has been arrested on accusations he started an out-of-control fire while trying to burn a spider he saw while hiking.

Aug 03, 2022, updated Aug 03, 2022
An Erickson Aero Tanker drops fire retardant over a wildfire in Springville on Monday. Photo: Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP

An Erickson Aero Tanker drops fire retardant over a wildfire in Springville on Monday. Photo: Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP

Cory Allan Martin, 26, told deputies that he saw the spider Monday while he was in a hiking area in the foothills south of Salt Lake City near the city of Springville.

He acknowledged starting the fire but didn’t explain why he was trying to burn the spider.

The fire quickly spread up the mountain and had burned more than 24 hectares as of Tuesday, according to fire officials.

Deputies found a jar of marijuana in Martin’s belongings but he didn’t appear to be high, Utah County Sheriff’s Sergeant Spencer Cannon said.

There was no evidence to suggest he intentionally started the blaze, Cannon said, but he called it a reckless and puzzling decision.

This area and most of Utah are bone dry amid extreme drought conditions.

“What led him to stop and notice a spider and decide to try to burn it, we don’t know,” Cannon said.

“There may not be a why. He might not even know a why.”

It came as search teams in California found two more bodies in an area scorched by a forest fire raging for a fifth day  near the Oregon border, bringing to four the number of lives lost in the state’s biggest blaze this year.

The latest two victims were found on Monday at separate homes along a highway that runs through the fire zone in the Klamath National Forest about 480 kilometres north of San Francisco.

The remains of two other people, who were apparently trying to escape the fire at the last minute, were discovered on Sunday inside a burnt-out car.

As of Tuesday, the so-called McKinney fire had charred more than 22,662 hectares of drought-stressed timber, tall grass and brush.

Some 2000 residents were ordered to leave since the blaze erupted on Friday.

Numerous homes have been destroyed and nearly 5000 dwellings were listed as threatened by flames.

-with AAP

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