SEATTLE — Two men illegally harvesting big leaf maple trees in Olympic National Forest in 2018 are being indicted on federal charges Monday for starting a fire that burned more than 3,300 acres and sent smoke over Kitsap and beyond.

Justin Andrew Wilke and Shawn Edward Williams will be charged with eight felonies related to cutting down and selling maple wood as well as starting the blaze, which became known as the Maple Fire.

Wilke and Williams claimed to a Tumwater lumber mill that they had permits and were harvesting maple trees on private property when the timber was actually illegally cut on national forest land, the indictment alleges. The men searched areas around Elk Lake and Lena Lake on the Olympic Peninsula for maple trees with "figured wood" that is sought for carving into musical instruments, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Brian Moran.

In early August 2018, while attempting to fell a tree with a bee's nest, the pair poured gasoline on the nest and lit it on fire. Their attempts at putting out the fire with water bottles weren't successful.

The fire burned more than 3,300 acres and cost about $4.5 million to contain, the press release said. Much of the damage was within the Hamma Hamma Recreation Area southwest of Brinnon.

Wilke is due in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Monday afternoon. Williams is in state custody in California, the release said. Wilke will be charged with depredation and theft of public property, trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber. setting timber afire and using fire in furtherance of a felony. Williams will be charged with depredation of government property and attempted trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, the release said.

The charges are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the press release.