That parking lot is my favourite entrance to marble meadows. Those people were endangering the vehicles and possibly the lives of everyone who had boated across the lake to the trailhead. There is never an appropriate time to use open flame in that parking lot, even in winter.

However, it’s also a popular place for kids to go have some drinks around a fire, because it’s relatively remote.

My guess is that the people who started the fire weren’t supposed to be there in the first place, and if they HAD got trapped, nobody would have been looking for them there.

Hopefully this experience will change how some of those people approach the rest of their lives.