A teenage volunteer firefighter is among two dozen people accused of lighting some of the historic fires that have raged across Australia since September.
This fire season, police have taken legal action — ranging from cautions to charges —against almost 200 people in New South Wales alone, police reported. That includes 24 people charged with deliberately lighting bushfires, 53 accused of failing to comply with the fire ban and 47 accused of discarding a lit cigarette or match.
The Rural Fire Service said Blake Banner, 19, has been charged in connection with seven fires in October and November in an area south of Sydney. Hundreds of fires have devastated an estimated 25,000 square miles of southeastern Australia.
"Our members will be rightly angry that the alleged actions of one individual can tarnish the reputation and hard work of so many," New South Wales fire Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
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Australia's fire season usually runs from December to March, but record-breaking heat in 2019 coupled with lingering drought and high winds brought the first fire much earlier. The blazes have killed at least 25 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and swept away an estimated 500 million animals.
The financial costs also are rising fast. Insurers have received almost 9,000 claims since September from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, said Insurance Council of Australia CEO Rob Whelan.
He said claims have reached $450 million in U.S. dollars and that about 20% of those claims already have been paid.
"Many more claims are expected to be lodged in coming days and week," Whelan said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has committed $1.4 billion to the recovery effort. But the fire season is far from over.
Scores of U.S. firefighters are joining the international effort to combat the fires. The Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center said it has assigned at least 83 fire personnel to Australia, including 37 in New South Wales and 44 in neighboring Victoria.
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January 07, 2020 at 09:41PM
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