New Charge in Colorado Wildfire

The former U.S. Forest Service employee who admitted starting the worst fire in Colorado history was charged with arson Wednesday in state court.

Terry Lynn Barton pleaded guilty to federal charges last week for setting fire to forest land and lying to investigators.

The fourth-degree arson charge filed Wednesday against Barton in Teller County District Court covers damage done to private property by the 137,000-acre blaze, Dist. Atty. Jeanne Smith said.

The fire, which cost more than $29 million to contain, destroyed 133 houses and one business. The fire also burned in Jefferson, Park and Douglas counties, and the charge includes damage caused by the fire in all those counties, Smith said.

Prosecutors from the four counties agreed to file the charge in Teller County because it suffered $13 million in property damage and had the largest number of evacuees.

Smith said prosecutors had considered filing the charge in Park County, where the fire started, or in Douglas County, which also had high property damage.

First-degree arson, a more serious felony, applies only to people accused of setting fire to buildings. Second- through fourth-degree arson are all Class 4 felonies and carry the same possible sentence of two to 12 years in prison. The difference lies in what was set on fire and whether fraud was involved.

The fourth-degree charge accuses Barton of starting a fire on someone else’s property, and endangering people and property in the four counties.

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

Campfires were banned at the time because of the drought.

Prosecutors had considered filing charges against Barton in the death of a 50-year-old Teller County woman who suffered an asthma attack after heavy smoke drifted over her house.

No autopsy was performed and Smith said that would make it difficult to prove a link between the woman’s death and the fire.