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24 People Arrested For Intentionally Setting Bushfires In Australia


The Australia wildfires are a countrywide catastrophe, mainly caused by drought and extreme heat, but officials says that dozens of people are directly to blame for some of the problem.

Police have charged at least 24 people for intentionally starting bushfires in the state of New South Wales, according to a statement the New South Wales Police released Monday.

NSW Police have taken legal action against 183 people, 40 of whom are juveniles, for fire-related offenses since November 8, the statement said. The legal actions range from cautions to criminal charges.


Out of those 183 people, 53 have received cautions or criminal charges for violating fire ban and 47 are accused of discarding a lit cigarette or match on land, according to the police statement.


Dr Paul Read, co-director of the National Centre for Research in Bushfire and Arson, told ABC News:

About 85 per cent are related to human activity, 13 per cent confirmed arson and 37 per cent suspected arson.


The remainder are usually due to reckless fire lighting or even just children playing with fire.

At least 24 people have died nationwide during this fire season. While the fires have touched every state in Australia, New South Wales has been the hardest hit.


The blazes have been burning across Australia for months, scorching homes and destroying entire towns. Nearly 13 million acres of land have been burned, an area twice the size of the US state of Maryland.


Nearly half a billion animals have been affected by the fires in NSW alone and millions of them are potentially dead, according to ecologists at the University of Sydney. Birds, reptiles and mammals, except bats, are among those affected. Insects and frogs aren't included in that number.


In November, the NSW Rural Fire Service arrested a 19-year-old volunteer member on suspicion of arson, charging him with seven counts of deliberately setting fires over a six-week period.
CNN's Samantha Beech and Hande Atay Alam contributed to this report.

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