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FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2002

A white woman who admitted starting part of the fire that burned 60 percent of the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona says she can't be blamed for the worst blaze in state history.

"You can't blame me for saving my life," Valinda Elliott told the Associated Press.

Elliott may not be charged with starting the Chediski fire. Along with the Rodeo fire, the joint blaze consumed 470,000 acres of land.

Leonard Gregg, a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, has been indicted for starting the Rodeo fire.

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Hiker says she was lost, desperate when starting fire (AP 7/11)
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