Firefighters fume at felled pines arson

A FIRE that appears to have been deliberately lit on Sunday night in Sassafras has angered hills firefighters.
Sassafras-Ferny Creek, CFA Captain, John Schauble, said it was outrageous that more than 30 firefighters and a dozen fire vehicles, including a bulldozer, were tied up at the fire, which appeared to be deliberately lit.
The fire started shortly after 9pm on Sunday in an area of public land adjacent to Mt Dandenong Tourist Road, where pine trees were chopped down by Parks Victoria in October last year. Despite continued speculation that the pile of debris from the trees posed a risk to the community, Capt Schauble maintains that there was never a risk to residents.
“At no point has the debris from the works ever posed a serious fire risk to the local community,” he said.
He said the only serious risk was to the safety of firefighters who were forced to tackle the blaze at night in uneven terrain.
“At no point were any homes, public buildings or local businesses under threat from this fire,” he said.
“There was absolutely no ember attack problem, no risk to residents or buildings.
“This fire appears to be the result of a stupid and irrational act by some unknown person who probably needs help.”
CFA crews from Sassafras-Ferny Creek, Olinda and Kallista took about 10 minutes to contain the fire.
CFA and Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) firefighters, together with several police officers, were obliged to remain on scene for around three hours while the fire was fully extinguished.
Mr Schauble said some of the firefighters had already worked long shifts due to the fire conditions in the local area over the preceding two days. “For them to be called out again to this incident was extremely disappointing.”
Police and DSE are investigating the outbreak. Persons caught lighting fires on Total Fire Ban days are subject to criminal prosecution and liable to lengthy imprisonment and heavy fines.