The Deadly Faces of Arson (Warning Contains Graphic Content)

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“I didn’t mean it” – Brendan James Sokaluk – The former CFA volunteer was found guilty of deliberately lighting a fire that killed 10 people during the Black Saturday fires of 2009.

The cars of two victims from the Churchill fire that Sokaluk deliberately lit. “We are without our much-loved family, and we still have a grandson without a mother, father or brother” – Victims’ relative Rhonda Jacobs.

Robert Paul Long was responsible for killing 15 people in Childers, QLD. The victims were mostly foreign backpackers staying in the Palace Backpackers Hostel while they were fruitpicking on local farms.

“I’m dying … I started the fire” – After being shot 3 times by police, Long confessed to his crime. He would live to face court and the distraught families of his victims.

Roger Kingsley Dean was a nurse at the Quakers Hill Nursing Home when he deliberately set it on fire, killing 11 elderly residents.

Armed with a cigarette lighter, Dean set fire to numerous beds – some of which were occupied by the elderly. Dean was allegedly in a state of panic to cover up his theft of hundreds of painkiller tablets. He is NSW’s worst mass murderer.

In America, mass murderers use guns, in Australia, mass murderers use fire.

That’s the shocking reality of our current situation in Australia. Too often we hear on the news about the struggles with gun crimes in the U.S. and although it is absolutely tragic what is happening over there, when are we going to realise that this sort of thing is happening on our own shores. Arsonists are murdering Australians with a very powerful weapon – fire.

The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 innocent Australians in the worst bushfire in Australia’s history. There were a number of blazes burning that day and the days leading up to the event, with police believing arson may have been the cause of ignition in a few of the fires. Then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, declared the event as “mass murder” and the state of Victoria as a giant crime scene. Only one arsonist was found and convicted of murder in relation to the fires of 2009 and that was simply because his car broke down a short distance away from where he lit the fires. The rest will never be found, their criminal actions covered up by the same inferno that claimed 173 lives, hundreds of homes, and thousands of livelihoods.

Unfortunately these weren’t the last fires to be deliberately lit by arsonists, nor were they the first. The nature of the crime and the nature of Australia’s unique environment, means that arsonists are very elusive and difficult to track down. That’s why authorities are constantly urging communities to keep their eye out for suspicious persons in bushfire prone areas, because the more people we have committed to this cause – the less Australians will be affected by arson in the future. Get involved, and find out how you can spot an arsonist here.

Why ignite change? My story

All that remains

This is my home. Not simply the place I grew up in, or lived in for however many years. This was where I was most comfortable, where I could always be myself, and where I could always be free. Away from the pressures of life and a sanctuary of everything that made me who I am today. SeaView was so much more than just a house to all my family – it was our home.  And now it’s gone.

Like all bushfire victims who have lost everything, that day will forever be etched into my memory. It was a 40+ degree day on the south coast of Australia, about 8 kms out of Merimbula. Winds were gusting above 80km/h and in combination with the extreme heat, conditions were terrible. All it would take was a spark and the bush was up in flames. Powerlines running adjacent to our property arced and ignited the bushland below. Had the shrubbery and undergrowth been regularly trimmed, as it is required to by the electrical company, the resulting devastation may never have occurred. Within minutes the fire was out of control and accelerating east – away from SeaView, but as the winds changed in the afternoon, it was headed directly towards our home. The fire was burning so hot and so           intensely that the RFS couldn’t get near the property and could only move ahead of the flames. They moved onto other homes in the fire’s path and managed to save all homes from seemingly imminent destruction.