A 36-year-old man has been charged with starting a bushfire in Victoria amid devastating blazes in the region.
The homeless man was arrested on Punt Road at Johnsonville and has been charged with recklessly causing a fire along with drug offenses.
According to reports, the blaze is understood to have been small but it was one of the more than 320 fires started in only 24 hours.
This comes after rescuing thousands of people trapped in isolated towns in Victoria. Black Hawk helicopters and the military arrived in East Gippsland to get 4,000 people to safety as they were stranded on Mallacoota beach.
Apocalyptic fires have destroyed over 766,000 hectares across Victoria, with more than 45 separate blazes burning.
The New South Wales and Victorian border at Corryong is also threatening lives.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said: “We’ve got choppers taking 90 firefighters out of the Mallacoota area, they can’t be removed any other way – we’re essentially doing a shift change by the air.
“We’ve never done that before, getting firefighters that are essentially isolated in that Mallacoota community out and fresh teams going in.”
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp and Mr. Andrews said the situation had been unprecedented.
Mr. Andrews added: “I know everyone wants it to be simple. We do, too. It is not. This is a complex set of fires and the coming days and week also be very challenging.”
Over 500,000 hectares have been destroyed after three blazes in East Gippsland ran through the areas.
MV Sycamore and HMAS Choules are due to arrive in Mallacoota to deliver medical supplies, fuel, water, and food.
Just last month, three young boys were dealt with under the Young Offenders Act for lighting bushfires as catastrophic blazes wreak havoc on the New South Wales south coast.
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