A 12-year-old boy started a bushfire and two teenage girls were questioned
over another blaze in Australia’s Queensland state, police said on Tuesday as
forest fires forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the country’s
east.
Strong winds have fanned some 140 bushfires in northern Queensland and
neighboring New South Wales state this week, with flames ravaging thousands of
hectares of land.
At least eight of the fires are suspicious, Queensland Police Commissioner
Katrina Carroll told reporters, and police said they had questioned three
children over blazes.
The 12-year-old boy was questioned after a group of teenagers were found on
Monday in bushland near a skate park in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital.
The police said boy who deliberately lit a fire which spread to a nearby
storage facility, destroying a fence, two shipping containers and their
contents was processed through the state’s juvenile legal system, which meant
he was released with a caution.
Police are also questioning two 14-year-old girls over a fire in bushland
near the Gold Coast.
In Queensland alone, low humidity levels, high winds and dry vegetation
have fueled 85 fires that have destroyed or damaged 84 houses across the state,
fire service officials said.
There were more than 400 people in evacuation centers, acting Queensland
premier Jackie Trad told reporters, adding there were no casualties.
In New South Wales, firefighters were battling about 55 fires and five
properties had been confirmed destroyed, the NSW Rural Fire Service said on
Monday.
Bushfires have started earlier than normal in the southern hemisphere
spring. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said winds would intensify throughout
the day on Tuesday, but fire threats should abate on Wednesday.
