FORT WORTH, Texas -- The woman responsible for the largest wildfire in Colorado history is fighting for her freedom.

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Watch Barton Prison Interview

Terry Barton told her story to 7NEWS Investigator Tony Kovaleski at the Texas prison where she's being held.

"I am ready to talk," Barton told Kovaleski. "I am ready to tell my story. Yes, I made a mistake (and) I am paying for my mistake."

Two-and-a-half years have passed since the Hayman Fire destroyed 133 homes, a commercial building and 466 outbuildings. Prosecutors said it caused at least $29.9 million in damage.

"I made a major mistake that I have to live with the rest of my life," said Barton.

For the past 21 months, Barton has paid her price behind the barbed wire and cinder block of Carswell Women's Prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

She is still trying to comprehend what last week's appeals court ruling tossing our her 12-year state sentence means.

"My lawyer was telling me, 'This is big, Terri, this is big. Merry Christmas" and I'm saying, 'OK I'm still, you know, I'm still in prison' and it doesn't hit you like it hits everybody outside."

The Christmas present came with wrapping paper from the Colorado Court of Appeals, essentially shaving six years off Barton's 12-year prison sentence.

The appeals court said that Teller County Judge Edward Cold should have removed himself from the case because he was personally impacted by the fire. The court said Colt had helped a court clerk evacuate her home and helped serve food to people displaced by the blaze.

"Anybody that was sitting in that courtroom should have known that Judge Colt was biased," Barton told Kovaleski.

She knows the decision by the appeals court will not remove the pain of the homeowners, or the devastation of the fire but she believes the court has done the right thing.

"Every day it is something I have to live with, trying to figure out why didn't I do something different, and then I can get depressed and then I have to come back out of it and say 'I got to keep going on, I can't sit in prison and be depressed while my girls are out there. I got to be strong for them,'" she said.

Barton said that serving time away from her teenage daughters is by far the most difficult during the Christmas season.

The appellate court decision has two major impacts on Barton's sentence: first, it's likely to reduce her prison time by at least six years. Second, it should clear the way for her to transfer to a federal facility in California where she can see her daughters every week instead of just twice a year.

The appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing before a new judge for Barton. It's possible that she could be ordered to serve her state and federal sentences consecutively, rather than concurrently.

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