Colo. fire suspect loses Forest Service job

Terry Barton

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- The U.S. Forest Service has dismissed an employee charged with starting the largest wildfire in Colorado history.

A termination letter was sent to Terry Barton on June 21 at the Jefferson County Detention Center, informing her that her job as a forestry technician would end the following day, the service said Saturday.

Barton was dismissed for "reasons of behavior," said Dave Steinke, a Forest Service public affairs specialist. She had begun a standard, one-year probationary period in November as a permanent, part-time employee.

Before that, the 18-year veteran was a seasonal employee, a common position for many forest service workers, Steinke said.

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Barton first reported the out-of-control fire in the Pike National Forest south of Denver on June 9, but she later admitted she started the blaze.

She said it happened by accident when she burned a letter from her estranged husband in anger at an abandoned campfire site, but investigators determined the fire had been set and said Barton tried to disguise it by making it look like "an escaped campfire."

U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch set Barton's trial date for August 26.

If convicted, the 38-year-old Barton could be sentenced to as many as 65 years in prison and be fined up to $1 million.

Barton was freed on $600,000 bail Thursday after a brief court appearance.

Her estranged husband, John, who lives in California but recently returned to their Florissant, Colorado, residence, signed a court document allowing his share of the home's value to be used as bond collateral.

As part of a deal agreed to last week, Barton must not enter 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. She was to undergo counseling.

By Saturday, the Hayman fire, which has been burning since June 8, was 90 percent contained. In all, 137,000 acres have burned in the Pike National Forest, destroying 618 structures, including 133 homes. The estimated cost of damage is $29.9 million.

As another huge fire raged on Saturday in Arizona, residents returned to their homes amid warnings of a drastically altered landscape. (Full story)