Forest ranger charged with starting blaze

A US Forest Service ranger credited with reporting a fire that has blackened nearly 103,000 acres has been charged with starting the blaze.

Investigators allege Terry Barton started the blaze by burning a letter from her estranged husband.

At the time the fire broke out, she was assigned to patrol the Pike National Forest in central Colorado to enforce a fire ban.

Barton, aged 38, started burning the letter from her estranged husband within a designated campfire ring, where fires normally would be allowed, then tried to put out the blaze, according to Assistant US Attorney Bill Leone.

Barton initially told authorities she smelt smoke, discovered an illegal campfire and tried to put it out by throwing dirt on it, but it was too late.

Investigators later determined she could not have smelled smoke from the position she reported and investigators confronted her with unspecified forensic evidence.

Barton has been charged with setting fire to timber in the national forest, damaging federal property and making false statements to investigators, said Leone.

If convicted she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000.

A hearing was scheduled for Monday in federal court in Denver.