MISSOULA, Mont. - A 23-year-old Dillon man who set fires in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest has been sentenced to one year probation and must pay $500 in restitution.

Kyle Zimmerman, who earlier pleaded guilty to damaging government property, was sentenced Tuesday in Missoula by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch.

Prosecutors say Zimmerman lit beetle-killed trees on fire in the Birch Creek area on Oct. 18, 2009, along with 26-year-old Christopher Clark, a Dillon man who was a temporary firefighter for the Forest Service at the time. The fire burned about one-tenth of an acre, and Clark was involved in the suppression effort.

Clark has pleaded guilty to damaging government property and is set to be sentenced Jan. 5.

Another defendant, Shildes D. Kellum, pleaded guilty to the same charge and is scheduled to be sentenced March 2. He was with Clark and Zimmerman when they tried to start fires on Black Mountain on Oct. 17, 2009.

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