US forest service fires worker accused in wildfire
Date: 02-Jul-02
Country: USA
Barton, 38, is accused of starting the Hayman fire, which has been nearly contained after destroying at least 133 homes and raging over 137,000 acres since early June.
"We couriered her a letter of termination a week ago Friday," said Forest Service spokesman Dave Steinke.
That would mean she was fired on June 21, five days after her arrest and nearly two weeks after the fire she was accused of starting was reported.
"Basically (she was) terminated for behavior problems," Steinke said, but was unable to provide details.
Firefighters expect to fully contain the fire, reported on June 8, by the evening of Sunday, June 30, a spokesman said. More than 1,600 firefighters have toiled to put out the blaze in a fight which has cost more than $27 million.
If convicted of all four counts against her, Barton could go to prison for up to 65 years. She was released from jail on Thursday under strict conditions that include staying at a halfway house - and staying out of forests.
She is scheduled to go on trial on Aug. 26.
Barton, who was patrolling on June 8 in the area where the Hayman fire started 55 miles (90 km) southwest of Denver, at first told investigators she was burning a letter from her husband and it accidentally erupted into a wildfire.
But prosecutors rejected that account, saying the way rocks were placed at the fire site showed she had set the blaze on purpose, with the intention of making it look like a campfire that went out of control.
Steinke said Forest Service termination generally was not open for appeal.
Barton, an 18-year veteran of seasonal Forest Service work, was on a one-year trial, or probation, as a permanent, part-time Forest Service worker when the blaze ignited.