Coconino County, Arizona — An Arizona hiker who started a wildfire after disappearing in 2018 was ordered by a federal judge to serve one year of probation and pay more than $293,000 in damages. I was.

Philip A. Powers III was convicted earlier this month of violating fire restrictions and burning wood without a permit for the actions that set off a forest fire on several acres northwest of Sedona.

U.S. District Judge Camille Bibles also ordered Powers to pay $293,413 in damages to the U.S. Forest Service for damages caused by the 2018 fires. According to the judge’s order, the penalty can be paid in monthly installments of $200.

Powers has already appealed his conviction, records show.

Defendant told investigators that he set out on a 17-mile hike on the morning of May 27, 2018. Powers said that after passing Taylor his cabin in the Wilderness, he got lost and eventually decided to hike back to his cabin.

The hiker told investigators that he had run out of water and could no longer receive a signal on his mobile phone.

“Powers said he decided to start the fire and let the smoke out and hoped one of the planes flying above would see the smoke and call for help,” investigators wrote in court records.

Powers admitted to firing multiple shots before he was found and rescued, court records show.

The U.S. Forest Service found Powers guilty of not bringing enough supplies for the 17-mile hike, and as a result, prosecutors filed criminal charges in federal court.

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