Until his recent retirement, Larry Humphrey was an incident commander for an elite Type 1 firefighting team. And for the past 30-some years, he's also been Van Bateman's best friend.

Bateman, a firefighter accused of arson and sentenced to two years in prison, was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine along with a $10,000 restitution to the federal government.

"It breaks my heart," said Humphrey. "He was the best firefighter in the U.S. as far as I'm concerned. Of course, he is my best friend."

And now Humphrey's best friend is going to prison. Bateman and Humphrey were both top dogs when it came to waging war against the biggest flames.

When a fire is out of control and on a rampage, the Forest Service calls on their 16 elite Type I incident-management teams.

And in charge as an incident commander, a fire-stopping general who moves thousands of people and tons of equipment, Humphrey was that general on some of the Southwest's biggest fires, including Arizona's granddaddy of wildfires.

"I was a Type 1 IC on the Rodeo-Chediski fire, the Aspen Fire, the Bullet Fire, the Los Alamos fire ... ," he said.

His armies of firefighters won all those battles, but today no victory, only a devastating loss.

"Yes, he broke the rules," Humphrey said. "We understand that, but it was not something that should have been a felony."

Since Bateman's ordeal began, Humphrey's has been vocal about his old friend's innocence. Both local and national newspaper articles claim he also has admitted to starting unauthorized fires.

"I was misquoted," he said. "I have not really done the same thing."

As Bateman was sentenced today, Presiding Judge Paul G. Rosenblat, addressed the fact that some top firefighters may think the rules don't apply to them.

"You never think you're above the law," Humphrey said. "You have so many conflicting laws and policies, it's impossible for an incident commander to follow everything."

But now with his best friend about to do time, is this retired firefighting general worried that his past could lead to a future behind bars?

"No they won't investigate me," he said. "I'm not allowed to fight fires on National Forest Service land after my quotes in the paper, which I think was very vindictive of the Forest Service after fighting fires for 34 years."