9 News reports:

Federal investigators are beginning to question the story of the U.S. Forest Service worker accused of starting the Hayman fire. Recreation technician Terry Lynn Barton, 38, appeared in federal court Monday morning to be advised of the charges against her. Barton told investigators she was enforcing the fire ban in the Pike National Forest on June 8 when she started burning a letter from her estranged husband within a designated campfire ring. She said she then tried to put out the blaze. Prosecutors now believe Barton made up the story. They say based on evidence gathered at the fire’s starting point, it appears the fire was deliberately set and staged to look like an escaped campfire.

Hooray for forensics! Now I really hope Terry Barton gets the maximum penalty! She could spend many, many years in jail for deliberately setting a forest fire.