Topeka ? A former employee of a Manhattan lumber company has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for setting a fire at the business.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says in a news release that 23-year-old William Joseph Willox pleaded guilty to one count of arson. He started a fire April 24, 2009, that destroyed two warehouses at Griffith Lumber Company in Manhattan.

The fire occurred while Willox worked at the business.

Prosecutors say that on the day of the fire, he started a magazine on fire and left it near stacked insulation. The warehouse was engulfed in flames within 10 minutes. Winds of up to 40 mph that day spread the fire to a second warehouse.

Willox also was ordered to pay more than $600,000 in restitution.