Self-proclaimed shaman accused of starting fire in California says she tries to boil bear urine: police

A A Californian woman claiming to be a shaman who was arrested and charged with starting the forest fire that threatens thousands of homes, claimed the fire was inadvertently started as she tried to boil fire. bear urine, authorities said.

Alexandra Souverneva, 30, could face a sentence of up to nine years if found guilty of starting the Fawn fire, officials say.

The blaze destroyed around 41 homes and 90 small structures while endangering 2,340 others, officials said.

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Souverneva has pleaded not guilty, but is now believed to have started several fires across California.

The self-proclaimed shaman said she traveled to Canada as the blaze approached Shasta County on Wednesday, documents said.

When she was thirsty and approached a puddle of what she claimed was bear urine, she told forest officials that she had attempted to make a fire to purify it.

The wood she hoped to use was “too wet for the fire to start,” according to documents.

Souverneva then drank the animal’s urine and continued on his journey, according to the report.

She was reportedly caught in the brush and should have called the local fire department for assistance.

Firefighters asked her to empty her pockets and fanny pack, to which she presented cans of CO2, a lighter and “a green, leafy substance that she admitted to having smoked that day,” said Matt Alexander, responsible for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Alexandra Souverneva. (Courtesy of Shasta County Sheriff’s Office)

Witnesses said Souverneva, who on her LinkedIn lists “shaman” as a profession and says she was a doctoral student at the College of Environmental and Forestry Sciences at State University of New York, dropped two CO2 cartridges the day the fire started, Alexander said. .

Souverneva’s statements could point to mental illness or addiction, his lawyer argued.

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“She is also suspected of having started other fires,” her lawyer said.

“There is a good chance that she was responsible” for a fire the night before, according to Alexander.

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“In my experience, arsonists… will start several fires in a short period of time,” he said.

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Original author: Luc Gentile

Original location: Self-proclaimed shaman accused of starting fire in California says she tries to boil bear urine: police