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Australian police to monitor 3o known arsonists
Police in southeastern Australia are monitoring up to 30 known arsonists while bracing for more of the hot, dry weather that allows wildfires to rip through the region, the state's political leader said on Tuesday.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 January 4, 2006
Sydney: Police in southeastern Australia are monitoring up to 30 known arsonists while bracing for more of the hot, dry weather that allows wildfires to rip through the region, the state's political leader said on Tuesday.
Parts of New South Wales state including the winemaking Hunter Valley region were placed under a total fire ban yesterday. Other parts of the state remained on high alert amid forecasts of hot, dry and windy weather this week.
The New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma together with the Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg, met families in the Central Coast region whose homes burned down in a massive fire storm that engulfed the region on New Year's Day.
The cause of those blazes is being investigated, but firefighters said they likely were caused by human intervention either accidental or deliberate.
"These are criminal acts and will be met with the full force of the law," Iemma told reporters.
The maximum sentence for arson in New South Wales is 14 years and even people who toss away burning cigarette butts in the Southern Hemisphere summer wildfire season risk fines, Iemma said.
Tough penalties
Iemma said up to 30 known arsonists would be monitored, and Koperberg told reporters he supported the move, adding that "it's a very appropriate measure to take, given the degree of public threat."
"Whether it's the stupidity of throwing away cigarette butts or a wanton act of criminality in deliberately starting a fire, there are very tough penalties," Koperberg said.
A volunteer ambulance officer died on New Year's Day while tending people evacuated from their homes as fires raged across the Central Coast, destroying three homes.
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