The then 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, fronted Singleton Children's Court after earlier pleading guilty.

He was sentenced to a 12-month prison term with five months non-parole for intentionally causing fire and being reckless as to its spread.

He will be on probation as well as parole when he is released just before Christmas after he was hit with a year-long order for larceny.

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The now 20-year-old was with another person when he acted "in a joint criminal enterprise" through his involvement in setting a container of stolen diesel on fire with a cigarette lighter.

A set of agreed facts show the company contracted to fell trees in the Nundle State Forest, an hour south of Tamworth, had packed up at about midday on October 26, 2019, due to high fire danger.

A logging excavator and other machinery were left fuelled up at a landing site near the village of Hanging Rock.

The offender admitted to washing out a 1000L container, loading it onto the back of a Toyota Hilux and driving into the forest that afternoon.

He used a piece of hose to siphon about 200L of diesel from the excavator into the container and then added more from the Hilux's tank.

The container was dragged across the road and then a cigarette lighter was used to set it on fire. The pair fled the scene.

Workers in Nundle noticed a glow in the hills the next morning. They drove up to find flames taking off north of Goddos Road.

The Rural Fire Service battled the blaze for weeks as it burnt in a controlled manner.

It was estimated more than 1000 hectares of pine plantation - worth more than $1.13 million - was charred.

Detectives had a breakthrough in the investigation after a public appeal, arresting the offender in May 2020.

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