WA:Known bushfire arsonists targeted in WA

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2011
WA:Known bushfire arsonists targeted in WA

PERTH, Dec 1 AAP - West Australian police will target 40 known arsonists this summer
in a bid to reduce the bushfire risk.

Officers would also patrol areas identified as high risk as part of Strike Force Vulcan,
WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says.

The strategy is designed to reduce the number of deliberately lit bushfires.

A recent report by the Australian Institute of Criminology found that WA had the highest
incidence of suspicious and deliberate bushfires in the nation.

Half of the 5250 bushfires reported across the state last bushfire season were deemed
deliberate or suspicious and of those 65 per cent were lit in the Perth metropolitan area.

Mr O'Callaghan said on Thursday that bushfire arson resulted in large costs for the
community in terms of loss of life, injury and significant property damage.

Strike Force Vulcan aimed to reduce the risk from deliberately lit bushfires as well
as those caused by reckless behaviour, he said.

The strategy follows a recommendation from the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission
for a pro-active police intervention plan similar to South Australia's successful Operation
Nomad.

Strike Force Vulcan will identify and target prolific arsonists and rate them as being
of high, medium or low risk of reoffending.

Police will conduct dedicated patrols across the metropolitan area including a number
of high risk locations identified as being prone to deliberately lit bushfires.

The patrols will be stepped up on days where the fire risk classification is extreme
or catastrophic and include aerial surveillance by the Police Airwing.

Last week 32 houses and nine holiday chalets were destroyed in the Margaret River region
in WA's southwest after a prescribed burn by the Department of Environment and Conservation
got out of control.

In February 71 houses were destroyed in the Perth Hills when sparks from an angle grinder
started a blaze.

WA's bushfire season runs from December 1, 2011 until March 31, 2012.

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KEYWORD: BUSHFIRE WA ARSON

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