Tripling of car fires in December leaves police baffled

The remnants of a burnt out car in Casey. Photo: George Tsotsos.

Another car fire in Canberra’s south on the last day of 2018 has brought the number of car fires in Canberra in the past month to a staggering 56 cases, causing police to ask for the public’s help.

From car fires in school car parks to suburban streets and the ACT’s national parks, firefighters have been kept busy with a spate of incidents across the nation’s capital in December, nearly tripling the November total of 20.

Four cars were set alight on Christmas Day alone, including one in the car park at the Gold Creek School in Nicholls and others in Symonston, Wanniassa and Narrabundah. On the weekend of 8-9 December, eight cars were reported on fire, with fires in Wanniassa, Forrest, Page, Duffy, Hawker, Bonner and Fraser.

On 15 December, a stolen car was set alight in the lower Cotter catchment area, near Vanity’s Crossing, causing a grass fire in the surrounding bushland. ACT Fire and Rescue extinguished the blaze, which grew to about 10 metres by 50 metres in size and burned for just over an hour.

It mirrored the incident that filled Canberra with fear in November, when a burnt-out car started the Pierces Creek bushfire that burned out of control for several days before being contained a mere seven kilometres from Kambah.

An ACT Policing spokesperson said police had attended 34 car fires in the past month but would not say if they had made any arrests or if any suspects had been charged.

“ACT Policing acknowledges the psychological, emotional and financial impact when a valuable item such as a car is stolen and destroyed by fire,” a spokesperson said.

“Suspicious vehicle fires reported to ACT Policing are investigated to attempt to determine how the fire started. Arson is a serious offence, and where an offender is identified, appropriate action is taken.”