Wildfire investigators looking for the cause of blaze in western Colorado last month discovered the partially burned remains of a dog — leading to the conclusion that a man’s attempted cremation of his pet sparked a fire that damaged private property including a cabin.
Law enforcement arrested the man earlier this month and he is now charged with arson and trespassing, court documents show. Authorities say the cremation ceremony started the fire on Aug. 1 that’s estimated to have caused about $200,000 in damages and burned about 11 square miles (28 square kilometers), the Denver Post reported. The burn is now largely contained.
Unfortunate outcome, sad cause. Sounds like he cared enough for the animal to put some effort into a noble funeral, but just fucked it up. Other people have caused conflagrations for worse reasons: intentional, carelessness, whatever.
Of all the people causing a fire like this, I have the most sympathy for this guy.
Related: a comedian once had a schtick about California road signs about it being illegal to throw burning objects out of your car; he joked that it was stupid, because what, was he driving down there road witha charcoal briquets in the passenger seat, just tossing coals out the window? While it was funny, I always thought, “Yeah. That’s almost exactly what it is.” Fucking idiots used to toss their cigarette butts out the window all the time.