In the past 24 hours several fresh fires were deliberately lit near Beechworth, north of Melbourne, according to reports. The authorities have said they are close to arresting one man suspected to lighting a large fire in Gippsland, which killed 21 people.
John Brumby, the Victorian Premier, said the 100 police officers in Taskforce Phoenix were “close to finalising investigations” into the south Gippsland fires that have devastated huge swathes of the state.
He said it was incredibly hard to believe that people would be still lighting fires given the appalling death toll. Local media said police had a description of a car used by those allegedly responsible for the overnight blazes in Beechworth.
“There seems little doubt that these were deliberately lit. I think words escape us all when it comes to describing that deliberate arson,” he said.
The death toll from the fires stands at 181 but is expected to climb higher as 80 people are still missing.
Australian Red Cross is taking donations.
An eye for an eye would say anyone who set those fires should be tied to a stake and burned to death.
I think I’d settle for shot dead.
Nobody has the right to do this.
I suppose the problem is that the Ausses have been to busy confiscating all the guns and knives to worry about matches.
Yeah I know. I need to use a spell checker.
With all due respect there’s been concern for some time that terrorists would do such a thing as happened in Australia, several years ago. Here’s a clip, look it up:
“FROM JOSEPH FARAH’S G2 BULLETIN
Terrorists plotted setting U.S. fires
Muslim bulletin boards advocated arson before California blazes
———————————————–
Posted: October 29, 2007
8:36 pm Eastern
WASHINGTON – While websites frequented by jihadis have been ablaze with claims of responsibility for setting the California wildfires, terror leaders also urged arson attacks as a tactic last summer, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
In July, a post was made to numerous jihadist boards and then spread to a number of blogs citing a previously issued fatwa authorizing the setting of forest fires as a weapon of jihad. The post began “this is an invitation to the Muslims of Europe and America, Australia and Russia to burn forests.” It went on to state the justification under Islamic Sharia law for this action and to cite its benefits for jihadists.
The post, revealed in G2 Bulletin’s report, cites an undated video that shows Abu Mus’ab al Suri, author of “Call to Global Islamic Resistance” and advocate of the doctrine of individual terrorism, discussing the benefits to the jihad of setting forest fires.”
It’s easy to start a fire, the circumstances are perfect. And to have a group of motivated Jihadis doing it in a Western country…
If not bombs, then some other means of causing mayhem will do. So it could be some regular crackpots or it could be something more. And Australia’s had its share of troubles with Arab/muslim groups, such as Lebanese gangs which were running amok in certain cities.
sel,
WOW, someone has been reading my posts…
IF the terrorists had been WANTING to cause damage to cits..
there are many other ways then to destroy BUILDINGS..
that would cause MORE problems then killing 3000 people.
Might this be how the world of Mad Max got its start? The criminal gangs torched everything?
No insult intended, but does Australia fight its fires the same way the US fights forest fires? Or do they just watch it burn, and see if it will go out on its own? Or maybe they don’t have enough fire breaks, to keep fires isolated. Sorry, but I’m getting the impression that they do fire control and prevention, on the cheap. And then an accident on terrorists.
Well now the US automakers finally have a market for all those unsold cars. Unless the steering wheels go on the right side, in Australia.
#25, Aussie,
Thank you for the update and on the site explanations. Truly, we wish things improve some for you.
Extremist muslims may be idiots in philosophic/meaning of life area but why do people assume they are otherwise complete idiots without normal IQ? Many 9/11 terrorists had university degrees.
Anyone would be able to see in terms of damage potential instead of them just thinking “terrorism is setting off small bombs, its what we do!”
Also its alot easier, how many of us know how to make a bomb compared to lighting a fire?
Why would the culprits need to call in and says its “Allah’s revenge!” when it would simply increase their chance of being caught?
No-one would want to be caught.
As it is dailymail.co.uk has a sketch of a middle-eastern looking kid as an arson suspect they’re looking for in the australian fires, which is why I used google to search for people stating a connection and came across this blog.
# 36 Glenn E. said, on February 12th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Might this be how the world of Mad Max got its start? The criminal gangs torched everything?
No insult intended, but does Australia fight its fires the same way the US fights forest fires? Or do they just watch it burn, and see if it will go out on its own? Or maybe they don’t have enough fire breaks, to keep fires isolated. Sorry, but I’m getting the impression that they do fire control and prevention, on the cheap. And then an accident on terrorists.
You are a fracking retard… We are the best in the world in fighting bushfires. We have been doing it for 200 years… We teach the rest of the world how to do it… The fact is these fires took a a lot of people completely by surprise… spot fire caused by falling embers were recorded falling 40 miles of the advancing fire front which was moving at 50mph in 115 degree heat extreme low humidity and 60mph+ gusting winds… The authorities responded as best they could with unprecedented conditions. The entire resources of the US military could not have stopped it…
That being said the relief efforts after the fire showed just how completely useless FEMA is…
Terrorists had NOTHING to do with this… If you think so then you really are an ignorant or paranoid delusional and should be medicated