The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — An ex-firefighter has pleaded guilty to setting three wildfires that burned hundreds of acres of national forest in central Nevada last August, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Mark E. Morgan worked temporarily with a U.S. Bureau of Land Management crew. Investigators said he started the fires because he was bored and needed the paycheck.
Morgan, 34, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and he could be required to pay restitution, U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden said in a statement. He entered the plea Thursday. Sentencing was set for October.
The fires in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Lander County, about 170 miles east of Reno, burned more than 550 acres of timber, brush and grassland. Two miles of fence also burned, but no injuries were reported.
When questioned by investigators, Morgan admitted starting two fires with a cigarette lighter and the third with a flare gun.