{"id":2839,"date":"2019-12-31T08:19:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T12:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=2839"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:19:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T12:19:35","slug":"australian-arsonist-identified-this-is-how-most-of-the-fires-are-either-started-or-exacerbated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=2839","title":{"rendered":"AUSTRALIAN ARSONIST IDENTIFIED: This is how most of the &#8216;wildfires&#8217; are either started or exacerbated"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Australia bushfires: Firefighter accused of arson in &#8216;ultimate betrayal&#8217;<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2840\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2840\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2840\" src=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/109905200_f780400c-ea66-4f2b-92e1-be5eb055bded.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/109905200_f780400c-ea66-4f2b-92e1-be5eb055bded.jpg 660w, http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/109905200_f780400c-ea66-4f2b-92e1-be5eb055bded-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2840\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AFP\/GETTY IMAGES &#8211; A volunteer firefighter (not the one pictured) has been arrested in New South Wales<\/p><\/div>\n<p>BBC<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\"><strong>A volunteer firefighter in Australia has been charged with deliberately lighting blazes during the nation&#8217;s bushfire crisis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Police arrested the man, 19, for seven counts of alleged arson in an area south of Sydney, New South Wales (NSW).<\/p>\n<p>The fire service there described the alleged acts as the &#8220;ultimate betrayal&#8221; to crews already under immense strain.<\/p>\n<p>Six people have died and over 650 homes have been lost in bushfires which have ravaged the east coast since September.<\/p>\n<p>The man is not accused over those tragedies.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-australia-50400851\">How common are firefighter arsonists?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The NSW Rural Fire Service calls itself the largest volunteer-based firefighting service in the world. The majority of its crews are staffed by trained volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Over the past few weeks, we&#8217;ve seen firefighters going above and beyond in difficult and dangerous conditions,&#8221; said Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our members will be rightly angry that the alleged actions of one individual can tarnish the reputation and hard work of so many.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">How was he arrested?<\/h2>\n<p>Police said they had been investigating a &#8220;spate&#8221; of fires believed to have been deliberately lit in the Bega Valley in the state&#8217;s south since October.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, officers spotted a man sitting in his car next to a river in the area. Shortly afterwards, they saw smoke and a pile of grass and trees on fire.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-with-caption\">\n<div class=\"player-with-placeholder\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-placeholder player-with-placeholder__image narrative-video-placeholder\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/720x405\/p07vmjd1.jpg\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"media-with-caption__caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Police will allege in court that the man lit the fire and left the area before returning to respond to the fire as part of his duties as a volunteer firefighter,&#8221; said New South Wales Police on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>He was arrested shortly after and was due to face a court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>More than 120 blazes continue to burn across the state. Officials have warned that the worst of Australia&#8217;s season is still to come.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-50568026\">https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-50568026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia bushfires: Firefighter accused of arson in &#8216;ultimate betrayal&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}