Police in fire-ravaged Australia yesterday charged a volunteer firefighter with arson, saying that he lit seven blazes before returning to help colleagues extinguish them.
Authorities said that the 19-year-old deliberately lit seven fires on the far south coast of New South Wales — the state worst-hit by a spate of devastating bushfires — between the middle of last month and late this month.
The man was reportedly seen sitting in a vehicle on Tuesday afternoon, shortly before a fire broke out nearby.
Photo: AFP
“Police will allege in court that the man lit the fire and left the area before returning to respond to the fire as part of his duties as a volunteer firefighter,” police said in a statement.
He was arrested shortly afterward, and charged with seven counts of causing a fire and being reckless to its spread.
The teenager had been immediately relieved of his firefighting duties, New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
“Our members will be rightly angry that the alleged actions of one individual can tarnish the reputation and hard work of so many,” Fitzsimmons said. “This type of alleged behavior is the ultimate betrayal of our own members and of the broader community.”
Six people have been killed, hundreds of buildings destroyed and more than 1.5 million hectares scorched across the country since early last month.
Dozens of fires were still burning yesterday, including 129 in New South Wales.
Large swathes of the state were facing “high” or “severe” fire danger conditions.
More than 1,800 firefighters were battling those blazes, 66 of which were uncontained.
Several people have been arrested in the past several weeks for deliberately lighting fires, including a 51-year-old man accused of sparking a huge blaze in an attempt to protect his cannabis crop.
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