Aug 11, 2006 9:30 pm US/Mountain
Property Owners Sue Feds Over Hayman Fire
DENVER (AP) ―
The owners of four properties burned in the largest wildfire on record in Colorado sued the federal government Friday, alleging Forest Service missteps allowed the blaze to grow out of control.
In a suit filed in U.S. District Court, Colorado Springs attorney D. Robert Jones alleged the Forest Service is responsible for the actions of forestry worker Terry Lynn Barton, the 42-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to starting the Hayman fire that spread to 138,000 acres in 2002.
The lawsuit faults the Forest Service for allowing Barton to patrol the forest alone the day she set the fire, for clogging radio channels with a weather report when she tried to report the fire, and failing to properly train Barton.
The suit lists plaintiffs Wallace White; Laurie Glauth and the Zelma L. Worden Trust; Charles and Marcia Phillips and the Phillips Family Trust; and Gary and Sandra Bieske. It does not specify how much of their property burned or what financial losses they suffered.
A Forest Service spokesman could not immediately be reached after business hours Friday.
The suit is the second filed against the government regarding the fire in less than three months. Three insurance companies joined forces June 14 in a suit demanding $7.04 million. A federal response to that suit is due Monday, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Friday.
Barton is appealing her 12-year prison sentence handed down on state charges. She is also serving a six-year sentence on federal charges in a federal prison in Texas.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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