As more than 80 fires continue to ravage the state, three men, aged 13, 32 and 40, have been arrested for allegedly lighting fires during New South Wales’ scorching heatwave on Saturday, February 11.
According to Sky News, a 13-year-old teenager was reportedly seen lighting a grassy patch with friends in Orange on Saturday evening, while a 32-year-old man was arrested on Sunday afternoon for deliberately lighting two fires in Nabiac.
A 40-year-old man has been charged with setting fire to land during a fire, intentionally causing a fire and being reckless as to its spread at Mango Creek on the Central Coast.
“How dare they,” Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says of the firebugs’ senseless acts.
“You put the lives of our firefighters at risk. How dare anybody add to the extraordinary conditions we’re experiencing.”
Yesterday afternoon, it was reported that 87 blazes were tearing across the heatwave-stricken state, with hundreds of firefighters working tirelessly to get the flames under control.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said that Saturday’s scorching temperatures were “unprecedented” and, as reported by News.com.au, also stood to be “worse than the Black Saturday forecast”.
“Fires will start easily and they will spread very quickly,” he says.
“Unless we are there in the most early stages of a fire starting, it is most likely that we will simply not contain it and the fire will take hold and spread and simply consume whatever is in its path.”
“We are talking about the highest order of risk when it comes to fire danger ratings. The risk is real.”
“It is not another summer’s day. It is not another bad fire day. This is as bad as it gets.”
