Suspicious fires probed as emergency continues
Police are investigating 12 fires they suspect were lit deliberately during Tuesday’s ‘‘catastrophic’’ bushfire conditions, including two that threatened homes in Sydney suburbs.
Police have warned they will put anyone responsible before the courts.
Two men have been charged with possessing RFS equipment, with one reportedly seen in the Royal National Park dressed as a firefighter.
‘‘We’re going to do everything in our power to establish whether fires were suspicious, whether they were deliberately lit and we’re going to put people before a court,’’ NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith told reporters in Parramatta.
He said there were ‘‘several’’ fires from Lake Illawarra to Oxley for which police were working to determine the cause.
Authorities are also looking into several suspicious fires in Sydney’s South Turramurra, at Loftus in the Royal National Park, at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, at Wollongong’s Berkeley and at Moonbi near Tamworth.
NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said people ‘‘must have arrived from Mars in a bubble’’ to not know about total fire bans in the state after nine alleged breaches.
The bushfire crisis engulfing NSW is far from over, despite conditions easing yesterday and all fires being downgraded from emergency warning level. Yesterday morning there were 73 fires burning across the state with 37 yet to be contained. Sixteen fires remain at ‘‘watch and act’’ level.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said 50 homes had been damaged or destroyed on Tuesday, bringing the total to ‘‘more than 300’’ since Friday.
Firefighters are now scrambling to control the remaining fires with favourable conditions providing some relief after shocking weather on Tuesday. But the weather is expected to worsen again tomorrow with ‘‘elevated fire dangers’’ continuing into the weekend, Fitzsimmons said. ‘‘Unfortunately, what we need is rain. What we need is meaningful rain. And there is certainly nothing in the forecast for the foreseeable future that’s going to make any discernible difference to the conditions that we are experiencing.’’
Thirteen firefighters received minor injuries in Tuesday’s fires.
A helicopter pilot has survived a crash while waterbombing a fire west of Brisbane. The pilot crashed while bombing the Pechey fire near Toowoomba about 2pm yesterday. He was treated at the scene of the crash by Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics for non-life threatening injuries. A spokesman said the pilot made a ‘‘hard landing’’.
Meanwhile, more than 1000 firefighters in Queensland are in the midst of a bushfire ‘‘marathon’’ as more than 60 fires continue to burn in the state.
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