School holidays - time for................

[journeyman Mick]

FIRE! :mad:

School holidays started this week in Queensland, and idle kiddies' hands and fire go together like a horse and carriage. Don't their parents know what the kids are up to? I'd like to boot their backsides (both kids and parents) repeatedly in order to knock some sense into their brains (and if you think I've got my anatomy wrong, think again. ) I had to tear home from grocery shopping in Cairns today to deal with a fire that some lovely little delinquents had lit.:mad:

Just had to get that off my chest.

Mick (holder of tyre squealing record in a 4wd ute whilst travelling from Cairns to Kuranda )

[Waldo]

G'day Journeyman,

Little mongrels, I often say it and in the words of Ted Bullpit, "Someone should bl##%^ well shoot 'em!" :mad:

But the Mum's of said delinquents will always tell you thet her little Johnny couldn't have done that. If you grab hold of them, tell her you couln't have done that, you've never even hurt a fly.

[AlexS]

Yeah Mick. First fires for the season down here last weekend, winds to 110 knots. At least some were deliberately started - one had 8 ignition points. A little applied violence wouldn't go astray, I reckon, if they could be caught.

[Bleedin Thumb]

We hear about the kids lighting fires because they are usually so witless that they get caught. What is really scary are the adults- pyromaniacs that get a kick out of it and are smart enough to create maximum destruction and smart enough not to get caught.
Down here a couple of years ago we had a rural firey got nicked for deliberately lighting some very serous fires.:confused:

[AlexS]

Agree, BT. One of our local senior volunteer firefighters was convicted of starting them, and have heard that it's not that uncommon - light the fire then fight it.

[Doughboy]

.... psychologists love people like that.. They need to be seen as heroes and the only way they can be is if they are able to save a house or lives, it is definitely a sickness.

Pete

[Felder]

Hey Mick. Don't you find it astounding how on a Total Fire Ban day, most of the fires start around 1600hrs? Approximately half an hour after school finishes up?
The exception to this is school holidays. :confused:

Weird.....

Down here a couple of years ago we had a rural firey got nicked for deliberately lighting some very serous fires.:confused:

If it's the one I'm thinking of, the guy transferred up from Albury way to a Brigade that neighbours mine. Apparently he was under heavy observation down south, and the Albury cops made a phone call to our local wallopers when he moved. They in turn contacted the Captain of our neighbouring Brigade, and he was closely watched.
He attended six fires in his first month, four of which he actually made the '000' call to report. Then, when they were out in the bush, the driver would make a deliberate wrong turn, only to be corrected by this clown (who I might remind you, had only just moved up from a long way away, and now apparently knows the local topography better than a bloke who lived there all his life ).
They finally got enough evidence to ping him, and he made a full confession.

.... psychologists love people like that.. They need to be seen as heroes and the only way they can be is if they are able to save a house or lives, it is definitely a sickness.

Yeah, that's why this bloke did it.
Don't know about you, Mick (or the other firies on the forum), but when I'm at a fire, I would usually prefer to be at home with my family enjoying a cold drink on what is usually a stinking hot day.

[Auld Bassoon]

Yeah Mick. First fires for the season down here last weekend, winds to 110 knots. At least some were deliberately started - one had 8 ignition points. A little applied violence wouldn't go astray, I reckon, if they could be caught.

If the blighters can be caught, give them a wet sack, and make them put the fires out - or else! Not just once either, but for a whole year.

I find it quite incredible that these sort of mongrels find satisfaction in setting fires. Barstewards!

I believe that back in Jersey (where I hail from) the Birch is still a legal form of corporal punishment. Nasty too, so I believe...

[journeyman Mick]

Hey Mick. Don't you find it astounding how on a Total Fire Ban day, most of the fires start around 1600hrs? Approximately half an hour after school finishes up?
The exception to this is school holidays. :confused:

Weird.....
.

They no longer have total fire bans in Qld as they found that when these were declared, the fire bugs would be more active:mad: They may still declare a fire ban for a district, but even that is discouraged. I know what you mean though, we get a lot of fires starting around 1530 hours, unless it's holidays in which case they start earlier in the day.

.........................Don't know about you, Mick (or the other firies on the forum), but when I'm at a fire, I would usually prefer to be at home with my family enjoying a cold drink on what is usually a stinking hot day.

Too right, I lose money every time I stop work to attend a fire, or I have my meals disturbed and my precious free time is wasted and it's really starting to annoy me that large sections of the community see fire management as some one else's (ie mine or other volunteer's) responsibility. In Qld the person primarily responsible for a fire is the owner of the property on which it is burning. it's their responsibility to control, contain or extinguish the fire and they are required to take all steps within their power to do so and to contact 000 immediately they become aware of a fire. Light fires for fun or excitement? I'd rather be doing something else, thank you very much. And yeah, besides the kids lighting fires we have on adult that we're keeping an eye on. The cops are very interested in him and he's reported in a lot of fires over the years. Tell you what, I reckon if I caught someone lighting one I'd crash tackle them and take "reasonable" steps (need a malicious smilie here:eek: ) to ensure they didn't get away!

Mick