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Accused Colorado firestarter released on bond

Terry Barton

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- The U.S. Forest Service worker accused of setting a blaze that exploded into the largest wildfire in Colorado history was released on bond Thursday following a brief court appearance.

Terry Barton, 38, was freed on $600,000 bond. Her estranged husband, John, who lives in California but returned to their Florissant, Colorado, residence sometime before the fire, signed a court document that allows his share of the home's value to be used as security.

As part of a deal agreed to last week, Barton may not set foot in any forest area, must stay at a halfway house, refrain from drinking alcohol, submit to drug tests if asked and undergo any mental health or medical examinations court officials deem necessary.

An official told CNN the court had stipulated that the probation office would arrange counseling for

Barton, a 20-year veteran of the forest service.

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Barton first reported an out-of-control fire in the Pike National Forest on June 9. She later admitted she started it, but said it happened by accident when, in anger, she burned a letter from her estranged husband at an abandoned campfire site, officials said.

Investigators, though, determined the fire had been set and said Barton tried to disguise it by staging it to "look like an escaped campfire."

Barton has been charged with setting deliberately setting the fire in the national forest and trying to disguise it as a campfire that burned out of control.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch -- who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols -- set Barton's trial date for August 26. If convicted, Barton could be sentenced to prison term of up to 65 years and be fined as much as $1 million.

The court initially refused to set bond on grounds Barton would be a flight risk.