URBANA – A former Champaign firefighter was sentenced Monday to four years of probation with 119 weekend days in jail for setting a colleague's truck on fire at a Champaign fire station.

Judge Thomas Difanis sentenced Monica Hall, 51, of Mahomet to probation, as agreed in a negotiated plea in April. Hall pleaded guilty to one count of arson, admitting she set on fire a co-worker's Ford Explorer at Fire Station 1 at 307 S. Randolph St., C, while she was on duty Aug. 6, 2009.

At the hearing Monday, two fellow firefighters, Roger Cruse and Andy Quarnstrom, both testified that Hall had lost her career as a consequence of the incident. Quarnstrom said Hall was the first female firefighter in Champaign and "proved herself 10 times over."

"She is an extremely good person and a hard worker with a good heart," Quarnstrom said. "The punishment of leaving the fire department is as severe as Monica can have."

Hall told the judge she disappointed her family and all of her friends by her actions.

"The biggest disappointment will be when I look at my children and realize what I have thrown away," she said.

Hall admitted she set fire to her own truck to defraud her insurance agency because she was having trouble making her payments and that she burned the co-worker's truck because it was nearby.

Her attorney, Robert Kirchner, argued that a jail sentence as a condition of probation would be a setback in her rehabilitation.

"This defendant, unlike almost every other criminal defendant, had a lot to lose and has lost a lot," Difanis said.

He said he had to consider the deterrence factor.

"She pled guilty, but she had done it before," Difanis said.

Champaign police Detective Pat Funkhouser testified Monday that in addition to admitting setting the Champaign vehicle fires, she admitted committing a separate arson to a truck near Altamont in 2005. Hall was never criminally charged in that case; Effingham County authorities were not aware it was arson until Hall confessed to Champaign police.

Difanis sentenced Hall to 48 months of probation, with one condition of that probation being imprisonment of 119 days on weekends. He stipulated that such jail sentence should not affect her employment.

Kirchner said Hall had paid restitution for the arson.