5 April 2012

Car Fire on David St, O'Connor

| geekette
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car fire

As I was driving home at 10.50pm Wed (5 April), I saw a parked car ahead of me with a small yellow flame appearing to come out of the rear left side window. By the time I was driving past the car, it was obviously on fire and after I’d dialled 000 and got out of my car to take a photo it looked like this…

There didn’t appear to be any people nearby – maybe caused by a cigarette smouldering of a back seat?

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Jethro said :

Jethro said :

During my first year in Canberra there were no less than 3 car torchings within 300 metres of my unit.

This city may be awesome in many ways. It’s level of property crime is not one of them.

Although, to add to this, I remember watching a doco about the French race riots a few years back.

During their 2005 riots something like 9000 cars were torched in 3 weeks, slightly up on the the 500-1000 cars set alight in a normal week in France.

Apparently NYE has become an unofficial car torching holiday in France, with over 1000 cars being torched on the night alone.

We may think we have our social ills in Canberra, but as I’ve said before, we are so terribly middle class.

‘slightly up’ meaning >300%

Jethro said :

During my first year in Canberra there were no less than 3 car torchings within 300 metres of my unit.

This city may be awesome in many ways. It’s level of property crime is not one of them.

Although, to add to this, I remember watching a doco about the French race riots a few years back.

During their 2005 riots something like 9000 cars were torched in 3 weeks, slightly up on the the 500-1000 cars set alight in a normal week in France.

Apparently NYE has become an unofficial car torching holiday in France, with over 1000 cars being torched on the night alone.

We may think we have our social ills in Canberra, but as I’ve said before, we are so terribly middle class.

milkman said :

Jethro said :

During my first year in Canberra there were no less than 3 car torchings within 300 metres of my unit.

This city may be awesome in many ways. It’s level of property crime is not one of them.

+1. And much of our property crime seems to happen with little regard for the (meagre) consequences.

+2 Lawyer friend of mine said that unless the culprits leave a driver’s license or similar at a crime scene, the local cops give it up as a lost cause and couldn’t be bothered trying to solve anything … apparently the ACT has the distinction of having the country’s laziest police force … and the most lenient judiciary for the few buggers who get caught …

johnboy said :

if it is a string of payback attacks at least they’re not shooting each other

Yeah, but we’d run out of crims a lot quicker than we’d run out of cars…

Jethro said :

During my first year in Canberra there were no less than 3 car torchings within 300 metres of my unit.

This city may be awesome in many ways. It’s level of property crime is not one of them.

+1. And much of our property crime seems to happen with little regard for the (meagre) consequences.

During my first year in Canberra there were no less than 3 car torchings within 300 metres of my unit.

This city may be awesome in many ways. It’s level of property crime is not one of them.

I spotted 2 burning cars within about a month of each other late last year, one parked on the side of Sutton Road, and one in the Beard industrial estate off Canberra Avenue.

We must have some serious arsonists in Canberra

Postalgeek said :

ka1042 said :

Looks to me like the car is parked in a bicycle lane. This seems to be a continuing trend in Canberra with drivers squatting their cars in bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are bicycle lanes. Maybe some keen photographers out there could post some pictures of drivers parked in bicycle lanes, just like the pictures of the drivers parked across multiple parking spots.

Maybe the arsonist was an irate cyclist?

From now on I’ll be carrying a packet of crisps in my saddlebag.

Mmmm….cyclist with access to chips in the vicinity of the O’Connor shops. Note our Moderator’s attempt to downplay the seriousness of the crime. (Well, it could be worse, he said, or something in a similar vein.) Does a picture emerge, Watson?

Genius Holmes. Allow me to fill your pipe, and then I shall contact Lestrade.

Postalgeek said :

ka1042 said :

Looks to me like the car is parked in a bicycle lane. This seems to be a continuing trend in Canberra with drivers squatting their cars in bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are bicycle lanes. Maybe some keen photographers out there could post some pictures of drivers parked in bicycle lanes, just like the pictures of the drivers parked across multiple parking spots.

Maybe the arsonist was an irate cyclist?

From now on I’ll be carrying a packet of crisps in my saddlebag.

If you’re hurt in any way because of their actions, sue the bastards

ka1042 said :

Looks to me like the car is parked in a bicycle lane. This seems to be a continuing trend in Canberra with drivers squatting their cars in bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are bicycle lanes. Maybe some keen photographers out there could post some pictures of drivers parked in bicycle lanes, just like the pictures of the drivers parked across multiple parking spots.

Maybe the arsonist was an irate cyclist?

From now on I’ll be carrying a packet of crisps in my saddlebag.

Looks to me like the car is parked in a bicycle lane. This seems to be a continuing trend in Canberra with drivers squatting their cars in bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are bicycle lanes. Maybe some keen photographers out there could post some pictures of drivers parked in bicycle lanes, just like the pictures of the drivers parked across multiple parking spots.

Myles Peterson said :

Copper told me the preferred method is to throw a lit packet of chips under the front seat. Apparently once the oil in the chips gets going, it’ll generate enough heat to start the whole car up. Salt & vinegar is the weapon of choice.

Wow. You learn some fascinating things on the internets.

Myles Peterson9:31 am 05 Apr 12

There’s a serial car-burner in Griffith, been at it for ages. Tends to target public housing estates.

Copper told me the preferred method is to throw a lit packet of chips under the front seat. Apparently once the oil in the chips gets going, it’ll generate enough heat to start the whole car up. Salt & vinegar is the weapon of choice.

Like I said previously, a lot goes unreported in Canberra. We have no investigative journalists, bar the filing of the odd FOI, and have to rely on public information via sites like this and posts, like this.

I doubt it was a cigarette…that car has been parked on the side of the road for a couple of days. I drove past it yesterday afternoon and noticed all the tires had been slashed and the windows smashed. Some young punks having fun with matches…

Is it just me, or has the frequency of car BBQ’s gone up?

if it is a string of payback attacks at least they’re not shooting each other

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