‘Don’t Do Drugs, Kids’: Utah Man Jailed After Sparking 60-Acre Wildfire While Trying to Kill Spider

Despite a rainy July monsoon, Utah remains under heavy drought conditions, like much of western North America. The region’s soil is steadily drying out and water reservoirs are being depleted.

At least it wasn’t a gender reveal.

Cory Allan Martin, 26, of Draper, Utah, was arrested on Monday on claims that he started a wildfire that consumed 60 acres of brush in a Provo suburb.

According to local TV station KSL, Martin was found by firefighters running down the mountainside near Springville, Utah, on Monday afternoon. He reportedly told police that he had started the wildfire the firefighters had arrived to put out, and they placed him in a squad car.

How did he start the fire, you ask? Why, trying to kill a spider, of course. Martin told officers he had been trying to kill a spider with a lighter.

"When he attempted to burn the spider, the surrounding brush ignited and the fire began spreading very rapidly," the affidavit states.

Sgt. Spencer Cannon, a spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, told reporters that officers had found “drugs and paraphernalia” in Martin’s backpack.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox offered his own analysis of the situation on Twitter on Monday evening, tweeting: “Um, don’t do drugs kids (and don’t start spiders on fire during a drought).”

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️“He was also found to be in possession of drugs and paraphernalia, so he will be booked for those charges as well."

Um, don’t do drugs kids (and don’t start spiders on fire during a drought). https://t.co/dD4ekBQ1LA

— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) August 2, 2022

By early Tuesday, the fire had consumed about 60 acres of brushland, but destroyed no structures and caused no injuries or evacuations. Firefighters said they had the blaze about 90% contained.

While there has been a marked increase in the number, size, and intensity of wildfires in recent years, which scientists attribute to a mixture of climate change and human settlement patterns, there have also been numerous fires sparked by other incidents. For example, pyrotechnics associated with so-called “gender reveal” parties, in which the colors blue or pink are dramatically unveiled as a way to inform guests about a forthcoming child’s sex, have sparked several such fires, including a massive fire that consumed 47,000 acres of land in Arizona in 2017 and another in California in 2020 that burned 22,700 acres.

The California fire, officially known as the El Dorado Fire, is colloquially called the “Gender Reveal Fire.”