Phoenix ? The woman who set one of Arizona’s devastating wildfires said Thursday that she had been lost in the wilderness for two nights and was desperate to get the attention of a passing TV helicopter.

“You can’t blame me for saving my life,” she said.

Valinda Elliott, 31, told The Associated Press that she couldn’t believe it when the signal fire she had started with her lighter became part of an inferno that destroyed at least 467 homes and scorched nearly 469,000 acres before being contained.

The blaze she started merged with the so-called Rodeo fire to create the biggest wildfire in Arizona history. The combined blaze burned through several communities last month and forced the evacuation of about 30,000 people.

Authorities said the Rodeo fire was started by Leonard Gregg, a part-time firefighter from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation looking for work. He pleaded innocent to federal charges last week.

Elliott has not been charged with a crime.

She said she and her employer became lost as the two tried to drive from Phoenix to Young. They ran out of gas June 18.

The two slept the first night in the truck. The next morning, Elliott said she left to find a place where her cell phone might work. She took two cigarettes, a lighter and a towel.

Elliott said she walked most of the day, and once she realized she had lost sight of the road, began screaming for help.

Elliott said she spent the second night alone outside, wearing only a tank top, shorts and flip-flop sandals. She said she drank water from muddy pools and had no food. At daybreak, she used her lighter to set fire to a small bush after hearing the TV helicopter, which rescued her a few minutes later.