Police contradict claims spread online exaggerating arson's role in Australian bushfires [see reply 26]

Victoria police say there is no evidence any of the devastating bushfires in the state were caused by arson, contrary to the spread of global disinformation exaggerating arsonist arrests during the current crisis.

A misleading figure suggesting 183 arsonists have been arrested “since the start of the bushfire season” spread across the globe on Wednesday, after initial reports in News Corp were picked up by Donald Trump Jr, US far-right websites and popular alt-right personalities.

Jason Wilson (@jason_a_w)
Some outlets are reporting this responsibly but the distorted version is all over garbage-tier rightwing media. pic.twitter.com/U9XxmzuKHl January 7, 2020

The figure included statistics from some states covering the entirety of 2019, rather than just the current bushfire season, which began in September.

In Victoria, 43 alleged arsonists were counted among the 183 arrested “in the past few months” and “since the start of the bushfire season”. That Victorian figure was, in fact, the figure for all of 2019.

“There is currently no intelligence to indicate that the fires in East Gippsland and the North East have been caused by arson or any other suspicious behaviour,” a Victoria police spokeswoman said.

The reported figure of 183 also includes 101 individuals from Queensland who were “picked up for setting fires in the bush”. But a Queensland police spokeswoman said the figure included a broader range of offences than arson, including the breaching of total fire bans, and was not a total of arrests, but a total of “police enforcement actions”.

“Enforcement action includes charging, restorative justice or cautioning,” she said.

From Australian science writer, Joanne Nova...

For example, the awful Binna Burra fire in September was blamed on climate change. Instead it turned out to be caused by two teenagers with cigarette butts. Who looks silly pushing a carbon tax agenda to stop fires?

So The Guardian and the ABC are now compiling stories with conspiracy theories about how a thousand or so tweets with a pedantic error mistaking legal action for arrests somehow demonstrates a mysterious disinformation campaign (it’s pro-ject-ion.)

More at this link, The information war about astonishing arson figures

The article says this....buried down in the body of the article.

“But a Rural Fire Service spokesman told Sky News on Wednesday that the majority of the larger fires in the state were caused by lightning, and that arson was a relatively small source of ignition.

Arsonists have been responsible for some of the bushfires this season – though specific numbers are not yet available. There is also no doubt that arson remains a serious problem in Australia, particularly during heightened periods of fire danger. Arsonists have been responsible for some of Australia’s worst fires, including a fire that killed 10 people on Black Saturday in 2009.”

That is a far cry from none of the fires have been caused by arson and the lead of the article suggests.

I read one or two of those “right-wing” reports, and I knew everything they just clarified, so I guess some of those “right-wing” news sources are in fact reporting the entire story.

On the other hand, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE that “NONE” of the fires were started by arson. This story confirms that multiple people have been arrested for arson DURING this firestorm. I’m sure not all of them are arson, but it is also stupid to pretend none of them are.

Note also: it isn’t just arson, a lot of fires are man-made, but mistakenly so. That’s the whole “we aren’t arresting all these people”, some of them are because of smokers throwing their lit cigarettes on the ground, or people doing cookouts when they are not allowed to now because things are so dry.

> “But a Rural Fire Service spokesman told Sky News on Wednesday that the majority of the larger fires in the state were caused by lightnin...

I’m just a bit confused here. The outback is tinder dry because of a drought that has gone on for the last three years. If the fires were all started by lightning, doesn’t one have to assume rainstorms along with it, and, as far as I know that also means a lot of water as well. I must be missing something here.

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