Greens call for ‘flying squads’ to catch fire lighters
Greens call for ‘flying squads’ to catch fire lighters
7 December 2007
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Greens Senator Bob Brown wants a police helicopter ‘flying squad’ this summer to catch people who start bushfires in Tasmania.
He says studies show more than 90 per cent of the area burnt out in Tasmania is due to fires lit by people, and not lightning.
Senator Brown says last summer, tens of millions of dollars of damage was done by major bushfires, and the culprits escaped.
“There’s a potential massive toll both in human life and in property, and to the wild face of Tasmania by fires lit by people,” he siad.
“And we really need them to know that they run a much greater risk of being apprehended.”
Senator Brown says the State Government’s role is to work out the logistics and funding.
“In Tasmania, unlike the mainland, most fires are not lit by lightning, they’re lit by people.
“We have a greater need for the police to be given the where-with-all including helicopter surveillance to be on the scene of fires, very, very rapidly.”
