The recent case of a series of grass fires lit near Tatura in Victoria is yet another example of the problem we face in Australia of Arson.
Every year in NSW authorities are faced with the threat of deliberately lit fires and the cost of emergency response thereto. The Blue Mountains bushfires are said to have cost the local community $71 million in lost tourist dollars.
The effect on such a community is particularly acute. Bluemountainsconnect.com is an app designed to help the community recover.
S203E of the Crimes Act NSW 1900 makes it an offence for an individual who “intentionally causes a fire” and is “reckless as to the spread of fire to vegetation on any public land or land belonging to another”.
The detention of two eight-year-olds at Maitland highlights the ongoing problem of arson in our community.