Australian Fires: 400 fires hit Victoria over the weekend

Firebugs blamed for blazes: fire criminologist

Mark Dunn
Herald Sun
February 09, 2009 07:26pm

MORE than one arsonist would have been responsible for several of the blazes which erupted in Victoria over the weekend, a fire criminologist believes.
About half of all bush fires in Australia are deliberately lit by fire bugs, Australian National University research fellow Dr Damon Muller said.

Given up to 400 fires hit Victoria over the weekend at varying locations across the state, Dr Muller believes more than one arsonist was at work.

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"Without putting a figure on it, it would be surprising if some of them were not deliberately lit, just by virtue of the significant number,'' Dr Muller said.

"And by virtue of the diversity of locations there is probably a number of perpetrators.''

Federal Attorney General Robert McClelland said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's description of arsonists as "mass murderers'' in the circumstances was warranted and any offenders would be pursued with relevant murder charges.

"Anyone who lights fires deliberately, with reckless disregard for the safety of their fellow Australians, in our view establishes the requisite criminal intent that would sustain a charge of murder,'' Mr McClelland told parliament.

Police and CFA arson investigators are currently trying to identify the precise ignition points where fires at Churchill and several other locations began.

All fire areas where deaths have occurred have been designated by police as crime scenes - although only Churchill and the six houses lost at Narre Warren are suspected at this stage to have been deliberately lit.

The Kinglake and Marysville fires are assumed at this point to have been the result of natural disaster but the crime scene designation enables police to investigate whether arson was a factor.

Police Supt. Ross McNeil said it was important for forensic evidence to be preserved.

"We are calling them crime scenes so we can protect them to a high level,'' Supt McNeil said.

Arson detectives yesterday began their work to identify which fires may have been sparked - or re-lit by fire bugs.

In order to confirm a fire was deliberately lit, samples of burnt vegetation at the ignition points will be tested for the presence of any accelerant.

Investigators will also assess wind direction, speed of fire spread, any witness reports of suspicious activity in the area and weather reports tracking any lightning strikes in the vicinity.

Dr Muller said bushfire arsonists were typically male and likely to start fires on urban fringes.

Based on a study of previous prosecutions, Dr Muller said the typical arsonist had a history of low-level property and violence offences and generally came from a lower socio-economic status.

Arson in all its forms costs Australia $1.6 billion each year, Dr Muller found in a report released this month.