Man behind California wildfire paroled

REDDING, Calif., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Matt Rupp said after his recent parole that he is furious to have been incarcerated for two years for accidentally starting a major California wildfire.

The 48-year-old said after being released from a state prison that he did not deserve to spend time among rapists and killers for igniting the destructive Bear Fire with his riding lawn mower in 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle said Sunday.

Rupp said he was not an arsonist, but merely an individual whose mower struck a rock and created a spark that ignited a field of dry grass near Redding, Calif.

"To set a fire, you have to set a fire," Rupp said.

The former inmate says he is also struggling to make ends meet since he has been ordered to pay the fire's victims a total of $2.25 million.

Nonetheless, prosecutors defended Rupp's prison sentence by claiming it was the best way for him to learn to follow public advisories during California's dry seasons.

"His attitude," Shasta County prosecutor Ben Hanna told the Chronicle, "showed that he was the type of person who was not going to learn from his mistakes. A prison sentence was appropriate."