Idiots fire up

By Melissa Grant, Jade Lawton and Kelly Yates
INFERNOS in Bunyip State Park and Narre Warren North brought out the best – but also the worst – in members of the community.
The weekend’s tragic events saw both extremes of human behaviour. Contrasting the heroism of the firefighters were low life looters, firebugs and fools.
Police have charged a Pakenham man with impersonating a CFA officer and are trying to track down looters who raided a Tynong home after its owners fled to escape the nearby Bunyip State Park blaze.
A Narre Warren South woman has told of looters sneaking through front doors of houses in her street while occupants tried to put out fires from their backyards.
Meanwhile, a Kilsyth man will face court after a 184-hectare grass fire in Narre Warren North was sparked by a power tool and an investigation is underway to catch the firebug who started the Bunyip State Park inferno.
At least 10 houses were lost as a result of that blaze, while two houses burned down in the grass fire which began in Narre Warren North.
Firefighters battled both fires in conditions that one CFA officer described as “a mirror” of Ash Wednesday.
Detective Sergeant Phil Jury, of Pakenham’s Criminal Investigation Unit (CIU), said police yesterday (Tuesday) charged a 37-year-old man with creating a public nuisance, cultivating cannabis and impersonating a CFA officer.
Det Sgt Jury said the man visited houses in Tonimbuk, telling residents to evacuate.
“He was not an authorised CFA officer. Whether he genuinely wanted to help or not, it was the wrong way to go about it and he probably cause some undue panic,” he said.
Detectives from Narre Warren CIU have charged a 40-year-old man with breaching a Total Fire Ban and conduct endangering life, following the grass fire in the town’s north.
Police said the fire was triggered by sparks from a power tool, possibly an angle grinder, which was used in Garden View Court, Narre Warren about 1pm on Saturday.
On the other side of town, Janeen Cooke, whose house in Langbourne Drive was saved, said she was disgusted at the looting that took place at the time of the fire.
A mobile phone and a circular saw were stolen from one home, which suffered extensive fire damage.
“While people were trying to put out fires at the back of their homes, looters were sneaking in the front door and stealing items from the house,” the Narre Warren South resident said.
“The firemen were telling the residents in the area to make sure their homes and cars were locked to ensure no property was stolen.”
Meanwhile, Det Sgt Jury has labelled the actions of a heartless thief who ransacked a Tynong home in the peak of the Bunyip State Park blaze as “sick”.
The thief stole three saddles before turning on a tap and flooding the family’s shed after they evacuated.
“It’s a pretty low act,” he said. “The thief was an idiot, anyway, to be out during the fire but this is just sick.”