DENVER, June 3 (UPI) -- The former U.S. Forest Service employee who admitted accidentally starting a deadly wildfire must return to Colorado to serve her probation.
Terry Lynn Barton was released Monday from a federal prison in Texas after serving six years. She faces 15 years on probation with terms that include repaying $14.6 million to the federal government and an undetermined sum that could be as high as $30 million to Colorado, The Denver Post reported.
Barton told investigators that she started the Hayman fire, the largest in Colorado's history, when she used a fire ring to burn a letter from her estranged husband. The 2002 fire consumed 138,000 acres, burning 133 homes. Five firefighters were killed en route to the blaze.
Barton's mother-in-law, Wanitta, told the Rocky Mountain News that her son, John, and Barton reconciled before she began her prison term. John Barton met his wife at the prison gates and is traveling with her to Colorado.
