FED: Arsonists lit Churchill fire, maybe Marysville: Nixon

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2009
FED: Arsonists lit Churchill fire, maybe Marysville: Nixon

MELBOURNE, Feb 12 AAP - Arsonists are responsible for Victoria's Churchill fire and
Marysville fires, Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon says.

Ms Nixon said on Thursday police were continuing to investigate whether arsonists caused
more of the devastating bushfires that have so far claimed 181 lives.

Police now believed the Churchill fire, which claimed 21 lives, and the Marysville
fire, where 15 dead have been identified, were deliberately lit.

"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 Marysville fire," she told the
Nine Network.

"It's a matter of other fires that we're looking at as well. We're trying to get there
as quickly as we can."

Ms Nixon said a large team of police were gathering clues in the hunt for any arsonists
behind the fires.

Victorian police announced a task force, named Phoenix, on Tuesday bringing in 100
police to investigate all fire-related deaths from the bushfires, and say they are confident
of making arrests.

Police had already spoken to some suspects over the deadly Victorian bushfires, she said.

"We're obviously working very hard on that investigation and we've spoken to a number
of suspects so far but it's still an ongoing investigation," Ms Nixon told the Seven Network.

"We'll get there, but it is a matter of piecing together all of the evidence and getting
information from the various groups so that we can add that to our current investigation."

The bushfires death toll stands at 181, with expectations the final number will be
much higher. It's feared as many as 100 people may have been killed in Marysville alone.

Ms Nixon said police were prepared to lay a charge of murder by arson - with a 25-year
jail penalty - against anyone believed to have caused one of the fatal bushfires.

She added that police had received reports that more fires had been deliberately lit
since Saturday.

"We certainly have had reports of other fires being lit," Ms Nixon said.

"You and I would just be staggered by that, but that's what we're certainly seeing.

We've been investigating those as well."

South Australian Premier Mike Rann's idea of putting convicted or suspected arsonists
under surveillance during high fire risk periods sounded like a "reasonable strategy",
she said.

AAP krc/wjf/cdh/mok/gfr/nf/it

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC ARSON UPDATE

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