Arizona firefighter pleads guilty in wildfire case

PHOENIX, Oct. 20 (Reuters) - A contract firefighter pleaded guilty on Monday to igniting what became the largest wildfire in Arizona history, a wind-swept inferno that charred nearly a half-million acres and claimed more than 400 homes last year.

Leonard Gregg, 31, pleaded guilty in federal court in Phoenix to two charges of deliberately setting the Rodeo fire and a smaller one on June 18, 2002 on the sprawling White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona.

Gregg, a tribal member, faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg on Jan. 12.

He had entered a not guilty plea and his attorney Deborah Euler-Ajayi had argued that Gregg suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and was not mentally competent to stand trial.

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