A 30-year-old woman is facing up to nine years in prison for allegedly starting a wildfire in Shasta County, California, last week, which destroyed over 40 homes.
The defendant, Alexandra Souverneva, has pleaded not guilty and explained that she had been hiking to the Canada border – after becoming thirsty, she apparently came across a puddle of what she thought was bear urine before making a fire to boil it.
According to the Reddit Record Searchlight, after the fire began, Souverneva became trapped and called the fire department. When the fire brigade arrived at the scene, the woman was asked to empty her pockets; in her possession was a bag containing CO2 cartridges, a cigarette lighter, and an item that contained a "leafy substance she admitted to smoking that day," California Fire officer Matt Alexander said, as quoted by the New York Post.
On LinkedIn, Souverneva's current occupation is listed as "shaman" and it also indicates that she was a Ph.D student at SUNY’s New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry.
A preliminary hearing for the defendant will be held on 7 October.