A 39-YR.-OLD MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, and charged with setting one of the major wildfires that killed several people over the past few days.
The magistrate has ordered his identity to be concealed in order to protect him and his family from any vigilante reprisals. He has been charged with one count of arson causing death, one of intentionally lighting a wildfire, and an unrelated charge of possessing child pornography, Victoria police said. Detectives questioned him for several hours on Friday before charging him and then transporting him to Melbourne where he will have a formal hearing on Monday.
The Associated Press has prepared this video report:
The police are still actively looking for other suspects who may have set many of the fires that have so far killed 181 people and destroyed over 1,800 homes. The death count is expected to go well over 200 after search crews are able to get to the rest of the burned-out homes that haven’t yet been approached. The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the fires as “mass murder.”
The man who is being held is specifically charged with setting a fire near the town of Churchill, about 125 miles southeast of Melbourne, that killed at least 21 people. Another separate fire that destroyed the entire town of Marysville and killed over 100 is also attributed to foul play.
There are still at least a dozen fires ongoing.
The UK Telegraph has this compilation of videos taken by the firefighters on Friday and Saturday:
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