Man charged over deadly Churchill bushfire

13 Feb 2009, 4:57 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A car lies in ruins after the deadly bushfires in Victoria (Bryony Jones - SBS)

A car lies in ruins after the deadly bushfires in Victoria (Bryony Jones - SBS)

A man has been charged with starting the deadly Churchill bushfire in Gippsland, that killed 21 people.

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A man has been charged with starting the deadly Churchill bushfire in Gippsland, that killed 21 people.

The 39-year-old man was charged with three counts in Morwell Magistrates Court in Gippsland on Friday - one of arson causing death, one of intentionally or recklessly causing a bushfire, and one of possessing child pornography.

The arrest came as police confirmed on Friday that fires at Marysville, Murrindindi, Buxton and Narbethong were being treated as suspicious.

Up to 100 people are believed to have been killed in Marysville alone.

The man who was charged over the Gippsland fire was transferred to Melbourne on Friday for his own safety and will reappear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

Assistant police commissioner Dannye (Dannye) Moloney would not disclose any details about the arrest or what led police to the man.

The court imposed a suppression order on all details of his identity.

"He has been moved from that area (Gippsland) and moved to the Melbourne metropolitan area for security reasons," Mr Moloney said.

Mr Moloney stressed the man had been charged in relation to last Saturday's fire and not the fires in nearby Boolara the previous week.

"It is very, very important for the community, especially around the Gippsland area, for a clear understanding that the charges relate solely to last Saturday," he told reporters.

Another major investigation is underway into the fires at Boolara.

Premier John Brumby, while not commenting on the charged man, said arson was heinous.

"I've made very clear my views about arson. It's such a shocking, terrible thing to do. We've seen some shocking fires and people who light fires deliberately put the community and human life at great risk," Mr Brumby told reporters.

"I don't intend to comment on the specifics of this matter but it's an unspeakable and heinous crime.

"I hope now that when an individual has been charged that the normal course of justice will be undertaken."

The almost-36,000ha Churchill fire in the Latrobe Valley region of Gippsland remains out of control, but is no longer posing a threat to communities in the region.

It has killed 12 people from the town of Callignee, four each in Hazelwood and Koornalla, and one in Jeeralang.

Two small fires were also deliberately lit around Melbourne on Thursday night.

Police were called to a fire in a paddock in the town of Baxter on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, about 10.45pm
(AEDT) on Thursday.

It followed an earlier three-hectare scrub fire that began in the Yarra Flats at East Ivanhoe, closer to the city, about 3pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

Police have released an image of a man wanted for questioning over the Ivanhoe blaze that threatened houses.

"Last night we did in fact have two fires that were lit and in one case we have a suspect that we're talking to," Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

"The other one we're very clear about who the person is."

She said police were also working around the clock in the pursuit of arsonists behind the Marysville blaze.

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