Bushfire Season

It has been the hottest January in 158 years in the eastern states of Australia.

Arson is one of the common causes of bushfires according to the Australian Institute of Criminology which conducted extensive research into deliberately lit vegetation fires and created prevention strategies.

Regular heatwaves and droughts make the country bone dry and total bans on fires and BBQs during the summer months are commonplace.

A former Victorian Country Fire Authority volunteer was jailed for 18 years for starting a fire which killed 10 people, razed hundreds of houses and 36,000 hectares of land in the town of Churchill in 2009. The tragedy known as Black Saturday started with the man flicking cigarette ash out of his car window unaware of the consequences his careless action would have.

The Bushfire Arson Prevention website was launched in 2011.

Someone lit a grass fire last night near the reserve. Nick saw it on his way home and rang the fire brigade and waited for them to show up. It had spread from 10 metres to 30 metres in the minutes it took the firies as they are called to get there.