Don Sweeney
The Charlotte Observer
A man who tried to kill a spider with a lighter ignited a 60-acre wildfire on a Springville hillside, Utah sheriff’s officials reported.
Firefighters responding to the fire at a trailhead near Springville about 5 p.m. Monday, Aug, 1, encountered a man with a dog who told them he’d started the blaze, KSL reported.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies arrested the man, who also was found to have drugs and paraphernalia, the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.
“In this case his actions were more than, ‘Oops, I accidentally started a fire.’ It was reckless to do what he was doing in the way he was doing it,” Sgt. Spencer Cannon told KUTV. “I’m not sure why he felt the need to burn the spider.”
Provo Fire & Rescue, Mapleton Fire, and Utah County Fire are assisting Springville Fire on a brush fire on the Springville/Provo border. Aerial operations will begin shortly. pic.twitter.com/v9K2i9891n
— Provo City (@provocity) August 1, 2022
The sheriff’s office identified that man as Cory Allan Martin.
Martin was arrested on suspicion of reckless burn and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, court documents show.
He was in the Utah County jail Tuesday on nearly $2,000 bail.
The blaze burned about 60 acres, Utah Fire Info reported on Twitter.
A rainstorm eventually helped douse the wildfire, KSTU reported.
Springville, population 33,000, is south of Provo and Salt Lake City.
©2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
