Jessie Thomas Anderson is due back in Rowan District Court on Sept. 21 for a pre-trial conference.

Anderson, 51, faces the misdemeanor charge of setting a fire on his own land in violation of state regulations, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

According to a criminal complaint filed by a Kentucky Division of Forestry official, Anderson burned brush on his property on April 6, but failed to carefully clear other flammable material to keep the fire from spreading, and he did not attend the fire until it was fully extinguished.

Authorities claim high winds swept the blaze into surrounding woodlands.

Volunteer firefighters Kevin R. Smith, 30, and Kenneth A. Nickell, 28, were overrun by the blaze, which witnesses said burned 153 acres in northern Rowan County near Cranston.