{"id":1246,"date":"2020-01-10T04:56:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T17:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2020-01-10T04:56:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T17:56:07","slug":"firebugs-get-blame-for-act-bushfires-1-jul-1985-determined-attempt-by-an-arsonist-to-cause-maximum-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/?p=1246","title":{"rendered":"Firebugs get blame for ACT bushfires. 1 Jul 1985. “Determined attempt by an arsonist to cause maximum damage”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firebugs get blame for ACT bushfires (1985, July 13). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995)<\/i>, p. 1. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from https:\/\/trove.nla.gov.au\/newspaper\/article\/127207890?searchTerm=bushfires%20arsonists&searchLimits=#<\/a><\/p>\n

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Firebugs get blame for ACT bushfires<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By ROD CAMPBELL<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Five bushfires<\/span> which broke out in and around Canberra in early March, causing the death of a volunteer firefighter and between $7 million and $8 million damage, had probably been deliberately lit and those responsible should be behind bars, the Coroner and Chief Magistrate, Mr Cahill, said yesterday.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He was inquiring into fires which broke out on March 2 and 4 at Mugga Lane, Garran-Red Hill,<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mount Majura, the Sundown Drive in and Tharwa. The fires destroyed 28,000 hectares of pasture and bushland, and more than 7,000 head of stock.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He concluded that most had either been started deliberately, like the Tharwa fire, or that persons unknown had at least contributed to their acceleration, in the case of the Mount Majura fire.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Tharwa fire had almost cer tainly been deliberately lit. There had been at least seven points of ignition<\/strong>, spread evenly along a four kilometre front, and there was a possibility that a delayed-ignition device had been used.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Some idiotic individual, who ought to be put behind bars, obviously started it,” he said.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The executive director of the ACT office of the Insurance Council of<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Australia, Mr Tony De Domcnico, told Mr Cahill that the estimated total losses from the fires had been between $7 million and $8 million.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The insured losses had been estimated at between $3 million and $4 million.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Detective Senior Constable David Loughlin said that about 100 people had been questioned about the fires, either as suspects or witnesses, but no offenders had been identified. – ‘<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Mugga Lane fire (which later joined up with a fire which burnt to and beyond the Googong Dam) began at 12.05pmpn March 2. In his report to the inquiry, the Chief Fire Controller of the ACT Bush Fire Council, Mr Cliff Parsons, suggested the fire had been deliberately lit.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It had burnt out 12,000 hectares in the ACT and NSW, destroyed a $2.7 million sawmill, 5,500 sheep and four houses, and had caused another $3.8 million damage to fencing.<\/div>\n
It also had caused the death of a volunteer firefighter at Googong Homestead.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An hour later, a suspected power line fault behind houses in Garran had started the Red Hill fire. This had burnt out 100 hectares before being controlled.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A third fire, on-Mount Majura, had been reported at 1.26pm. Two witnesses had seen a man lighting fires on the mountain<\/strong>. The fire had spotted across Majura Lane and had burnt out 6,000 hectares in the Womboin area. A $50,000 pine plan tation and 180 head of stock had been destroyed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Shortly before 3pm, a fourth fire, probably caused by a person throw ing a lighted cigarette from a car, had started near the Sundown Drive in. 600 hectares had been burnt out.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Coroner blames firebugs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Two days later, while the earlier\u00a0 fires were still being mopped up, a\u00a0 series of fires had broken out along\u00a0 the Tharwa Road. These had ap parently been deliberately lit, with\u00a0 seven separate ignition points being\u00a0 discovered in heavily grassed culverts.
\nMr Parsons suggested that a person\u00a0 with a good knowledge of fire behaviour, possibly using some form of delay device, had started the fires.<\/p>\n

The Tharwa fire, which had destroyed 5,500 hectares, “appeared to be the most determined attempt by an arsonist to cause maximum damage”, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Cahill said he recognised the role played by firefighters and the tragedy of the death of the young man who had been trying to put them out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The public was probably most disappointed that “the idiots” responsible for the fire had not been apprehended.<\/p>\n

Although the inquiry was now closed, he would have no hesitation in “reopening it if further evidence came to light.<\/p>\n

In his report, Mr Parsons pointed out that arson had been the major cause of the record 185 bushfires<\/span> in the ACT during the 1984-85 season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said that “repeated, insistent offers of help” from inexperienced volunteers during major fires had done little more than interfere with control-room activities. As well, the media had, at times, caused problems with too frequent requests for in formation and by obtaining reports
\nfrom ill-informed sources at fires.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firebugs get blame for ACT bushfires (1985, July 13). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 1. Retrieved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1075,1078,187,499,1079,1068,1080],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1247,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realclimaterecords.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}