The U.S. Forest Service worker who started the worst wildfire in Colorado history should pay the state more than $44 million in restitution, according to a payment order prepared by prosecutors in the case.
John Newsome, district attorney for El Paso and Teller counties, said Friday that the amount being sought from Terry Lynn Barton is about $14 million higher than the original estimate of $30 million made several years ago.
The new figure, Newsome said, is based on a review of claims made by insurance companies and victims of the Hayman fire.
“The victims have the right to ask for restitution,” said New some. “We want to present all their claims to the court.”
Newsome is asking that Barton be ordered to repay $44,545,879.01 . He also wants her to pay restitution “covering the actual costs of any and all specific future treatment of any victim.”
The June 2002 blaze torched 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings, and forced the evacuation of 8,000 residents. Five firefighters were killed as they traveled to Colorado to fight the blaze.
Barton spent six years in prison for starting the fire in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. She told authorities she was burning papers in a campground fire ring in the Pike National Forest that outlined a separation agreement with her estranged husband when the fire raged out of control.
Newsome said the restitution payment order will be presented to a judge. The judge also will hear from Barton’s attorneys, who may argue that the figure is too high and beyond Barton’s ability to pay.
Newsome said that under Colorado law, however, the “victims are entitled to it and entitled to try to collect it.”
Barton, 44, was released from a federal prison early this month and returned to Colorado to begin serving a lengthy probation.
After reporting to probation officials, Barton had to find a place to live and a job to begin paying back $14.6 million in restitution to the Forest Service — for emergency measures to revegetate the ravaged Pike National Forest — and the $44 million the state has determined is its restitution cost.
As part of her 15-year probation, Barton must perform community service in either Teller, Jefferson, Park or Douglas counties, where the fire took place.
Barton originally had been sentenced to spend 12 years in prison — six on federal charges and six on state charges. But because of a technicality, she was allowed to serve the sentences concurrently.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
