Morning:
10°c
Two suspects quizzed over starting bush fires
Ed Harris12 Feb 2009
Australian police were today questioning two people suspected of deliberately lighting one of the 400 bushfires that killed at least 181 and left 5,000 homeless in the country's southern state.
"The investigation is in its initial stages. Two people are assisting police with inquiries," a Victoria police spokeswoman said. Police would not give further details.
Australia launched its biggest arson investigation, Operation Phoenix, after 400 bush fires tore through rural towns since Saturday night, fed by strong winds and record 46.4 degree Celsius temperatures.
The death toll is expected to exceed 300 in the country's worst natural disaster in 110 years.
One razed town, Maryville, has been sealed off to the public and due to the horrific scenes. It is feared there may be as many as 100 more dead in that community.
The total disaster area, more than twice the size of London and encompassing more than 20 towns north of the state capital Melbourne, has been declared a crime zone after the fires burned 1,033 homes and left 5,000 homeless.
Police believe that arsonists were responsible for one deadly blaze, in Churchill, in the east of the state, which killed at least 21. They fear that the Maryville blaze was also started deliberately.
Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said: "We're sure that the fire in Churchill was deliberately lit and we have now been given some information that makes us suspicious about the Maryville fire.
"We're obviously working very hard on that investigation, and we've spoken to a number of suspects, but it's ongoing," she said.
Ms Nixon said police had received reports that more fires had been deliberately lit since Saturday.
"We certainly have had reports of other fires being lit," she said. You and I would just be staggered by that, but that's certainly what we're seeing."
Survivors were today returning to their burnt-out towns to start rebuilding their lives. Those with houses still standing offered shelter and support to those who lost their homes.
But many were left to live in tents and caravans, having escaped the infernos with just the clothes they were wearing.
Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd has described Australia's deadliest bush fires last Saturday as "mass murder".
In Victoria, arson carries a jail term of two to 15 years, and 25 years if there is loss of life.
The previous worst bush fire was the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people.
Finance analysts Standard & Poors estimated the damage could exceed £1.4billion.
