Investigators Release Text
of "Forest Fire" Letter
Castle Rock, CO | U.S. Forest Service
investigators have obtained a copy of the document allegedly used to start
the largest fire in Colorado's history.
Park ranger Terry Barton has admitted she caused the disaster during a "cleansing ceremony," part of which included
burning a letter from her estranged husband.
Officials released the text of an original draft, which they received from Mr. Barton, including the following love poem:
A flame within me grows and grows
This passion, an inferno
Igniting all before it's path
Must this firestorm go unquenched
To blacken the terrain of my heart
Forever to ravage my ardor's landscape?
I anticipate your response
Send up a flare, a torch, a smoke signal
Lest I burn and burn and burn
