Police deal with children for causing blazes

Australia

Children have ignited at least eight of the dozens of blazes, which have contributed to a bushfire emergency across Queensland.

A police task force is probing 21 blazes, 10 of which have been confirmed as either being deliberately or recklessly lit.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says some children have been cautioned or issued with a notice to appear in court, while one has been arrested.

Others are being dealt with under restorative justice, where the offender enters a conference to discuss how they can make up for the harm caused.

‘‘In some cases, it’s just young kids lighting a fire for fun. That fire has got away and obviously impacted, in some ways, very badly in some areas around the state,’’ Commissioner Carroll told reporters yesterday.

‘‘Others, kids have got together and purposefully lit fires. In other cases, there have obviously been recidivist offenders around arson.

‘‘All the circumstances are very varied and the police have dealt with them appropriately, having regard to the circumstances of those cases.’’

She said the punishment depended on the intention and the consequences of their actions.

The Youth Justice Act allows a child to be let off with a caution if they have no criminal history, with community service and restorative justice orders also available to authorities.

A 12-year-old boy was dealt with under the act on Tuesday over a deliberately lit fire that destroyed bushland and a section of a storage facility at Woodridge on Monday night.

Three young boys were also dealt with after being arrested for lighting a fire in a stormwater drain on the Gold Coast.

Four 14-year-olds are being questioned about a bushfire that destroyed two homes and forced hundreds to flee.

Two girls were also questioned following an alleged deliberately lit fire in bushland at Ormeau on the Gold Coast.

Bushfires in the last week in Queensland have destroyed 17 houses and damaged about 70 more.