Ex-Forest Service worker admits to starting wildfire in Colorad

DENVER -- A former U.S. Forest Service employee has admitted starting the biggest wildfire in Colorado history and has agreed to spend six years in prison, a term victims called too short.

Terry Barton, 38, pleaded guilty Friday to setting fire to federal land and making false statements to investigators after a blaze that destroyed 133 homes and cost more than $29 million to contain in the mountains southwest of Denver.

Sentencing was set for Feb. 21. The range for the two counts is 70 months to 87 months. The U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement that Barton will be prosecuted separately in state court.

John Partington, 57, who was among the hardest hit by the fire, said a dozen of his neighbors have not returned to their homes near Deckers since the blaze. He called Barton's plea agreement unfair.

"I lost 12 neighbors. What we had before is not going to come back for 20 years," he said. "I think they ought to bring her up here and drop her off."

Barton and public defender Warren Williamson declined comment after the hearing.

Barton also could be sentenced to pay a $250,000 fine on each count and restitution. Prosecutors claim the fire caused $38 million in property damage to federal land alone.

"For all the damage, pain and suffering she's caused, there's no way she could make restitution," said Larry Landis, 55, who evacuated his home for two weeks due to the fire.

Barton remained free pending sentencing.

Barton, whose job included spotting illegal fires, told investigators she accidentally started the blaze in June while burning a letter from her estranged husband in a campfire ring in the Pikes Peak National Forest. Authorities believed she started the fire deliberately.

Barton was fired after she was arrested. Campfires were banned at the time because of the drought.

She was initially indicted on four counts, including arson and injuring a firefighter. U.S. attorney's office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said the other counts would be dismissed in February if U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch accepts the plea agreement.

The four counts carried a maximum sentence of 65 years and a $750,000 fine.

During the hearing Friday, Matsch asked Barton if she believed the fire from her letter was extinguished before she left. "Yes, I did," she replied.

He called her action "hazardous."

The 137,000-acre fire southwest of Denver started June 8 and was brought under control July 19. It was one of several that raged in Colorado this year.