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American Morning

Arrest in Huge Forest Fire Burning in Colorado

Aired June 17, 2002 - 09:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is an arrest in that huge forest fire that's burning in Colorado. The shocking thing here is the person who was charged in the case is actually a Forest Service worker.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Denver, Colorado with the details this morning. Rusty, this would be just about the last person I think a lot of people would suspect.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right, Daryn, especially because this particular U.S. Forest Service employee was the person who reported the fire in the first place. Now on June 8th, 38-year-old Terry Barton claims that she was patrolling the area in the forest looking for illegal campfires. She claims that she saw one that had gotten out of control. She tried to stop it and was unable to.

But apparently investigators kept bringing her back. They kept seeing inconsistencies in her story. The wind direction wasn't right when she said she smelled the fire. Just the timing of the whole thing didn't quite match up.

Well apparently when they finally brought her back again late last week, or the other day, that Ms. Barton ended up confessing that she did indeed start the fire. What happened was she had gotten a letter from her estranged husband. She was very upset. She stopped and burned the letter and threw it inside the campfire ring and put it out.

She thought it was out. Then she left and apparently that was when the fire did get out of control.

Now, of course, Coloradans are stunned and shocked that a person, of course, who is assigned to protect the forest, who has worked for 18 years, is the one facing these charges. Barton will make her initial court appearance here in Denver today. She stands to face 15 years in prison and a half million-dollar fine -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, what about the status of fighting that fire, especially the Hayman Fire, Rusty?

DORNIN: Well, you know, it's burned more than 103,000 acres. They finally made a little bit of headway; 47 percent contained. But by the end of all this, Daryn, they're expecting this fire to cost $52 million. And they're not sure when they will be able to get it under control.

KAGAN: Something that started allegedly with a broken heart. Rusty Dornin in Denver, thank you so much.

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