Tasmania Police have launched a criminal investigation into the cause of two blazes that tore through Tasmania’s Central Highlands on the worst fire weather conditions the state has had all year.
Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) deputy chief officer Matt Lowe told ABC Mornings that fire investigators believe two of the five fires that started near Dee, about 120 kilometres north of Hobart, may have been lit under suspicious circumstances.
“That’s very disappointing from a community’s perspective that people are willing to put the lives of community members, and particularly my firefighters, in danger,” Mr Lowe said.
“Our police will be following up on that matter and investigating it further.”
Mr Lowe said although he had not reviewed the investigator’s report in its entirety, he believed that they may have been lit with “malicious” intent.
Tasmania Police Commander Jason Elmer said the two fires under criminal investigation were the Bradys Lake and Snake Tier fires.
“This is being taken extremely seriously, and we’re urging anyone with information to come forward to police,” Mr Elmer said.
“You can remain anonymous.”
Emergency warning downgraded, but vigilance urged
Multiple fires sprung up around the state on Wednesday afternoon, with the worst beginning near Bradys Lake, Dee and Tarraleah.
An emergency warning urging anyone in the area to immediately seek shelter was declared for the area on Thursday afternoon.
That warning has since been downgraded to a watch and act alert following a cool change on Thursday evening.
Southern Tasmania, which includes the Central Highlands, remains under a total fire ban until Saturday following a heatwave that brought hot, dry conditions to much of the state.
Thursday was the first time this summer that temperatures cracked 35 degrees Celsius in Tasmania, leaving fire crews on high alert as an extreme fire warning was put in place by the Bureau of Meteorology.
More than 20 fire crews and aircraft fought the blaze on Thursday amid challenging conditions — attempting to constrain a fire front that was being dragged further to the south east by strong, gusty winds.
More crews from the north and north-west have also been called in to assist.
Incident Controller Mark Klop said the exact size of the fires were still to be determined.
“We’re hoping by early afternoon we’ll have a better idea of how big these fires are — they’re all in excess of 1,000 hectares at the moment in quite inaccessible areas,” Mr Klop said.
“It’s been months now since we’ve had any substantial rain and the ground and landscape is very, very dry.
“It’s going to take a lot of rain – probably a good dousing of 30 to 40 [millimetres] to change that.”
Firefighting effort continues
Despite more forgiving weather conditions on Friday, Mr Lowe said the fires in the Central Highlands remained a concern and a multi-agency team was still on site.
“You may see another 12 aircraft flying overhead heading to start working on those fires,” he said.
“We also have 27 crews on the ground today, and they’re from across Sustainable Timber [Tasmania], TFS and Parks and Wildlife Service.”
Although a sparsely populated region, the area is a destination for holiday makers, with several shacks dotted along Bradys Lake’s western edge and near Dee Lagoon.
Fire authorities said some shacks in the Dee area had been impacted, and one person had used an evacuation centre that was opened last night.
Fire authorities said no properties had been impacted and one person had accessed an emergency evacuation centre.
Road closures remain in place and people are urged to avoid the area.
A community meeting with TFS representatives will be held at Ouse this afternoon.
Mr Lowe urged Tasmanians to remain vigilant, and across fire warnings in their area.
“If you do see a fire or smoke in the area today, report it straight away,” he said.
“We need everyone to play their part and continue to be as prepared as possible.”
Tasmanians are urged to stay across the latest fire warnings by checking the TasAlert website.
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