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Police arrested a suspect today in connection to one of the deadly wildfires in southern Australia that killed more than 180 people and left about 7,000 homeless.
Police did not release any details about the suspect, but a newspaper report said he was a 39-year-old man who would
likely be charged with arson causing death in what police call the Churchill fire.
At least 21 people died in the Churchill fire, one of hundreds that scorched Victoria state last Saturday, destroying almost 2,000 homes. The official death toll is 181 and is expected to exceed 200.
Officials have vowed to pursue murder charges against alleged arsonists if the evidence supports it.
After The Age newspaper published a report about the arrest on its website, Victoria state police spokeswoman Marika Fengler confirmed to The Associated Press that a man had been arrested in connection to the Churchill fire. She would give no further details.
The newspaper reported that the man was from Churchill and was expected to appear in court later Friday.
The report came as a blaze in the nearly burned-out wildfire zone flared up and menaced the town of Healesville - in a reminder that the country's worst fire disaster may not be over yet.
In one of more than a dozen blazes firefighters still struggled to contain, flames hit a patch of extra-dry timber in a valley about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Healesville, flaring up and sending embers and smoke over the town, said Stuart Ord of Victoria state's Department of Sustainability and the Environment.
The Country Fire Authority said later Friday that the immediate threat to homes had eased, but warned residents to remain vigilant.
The scale of the disaster became clearer Friday. The tally of homes destroyed in the wave of wildfires that swept Victoria state a week ago jumped to more than 1,800. The Victorian government also raised the number of people left homeless, to 7,000.
Today's developments came as 150 detectives in a special task force combed through the devastation.
The final toll could rise as high as 300. Two other men were arrested near Taggerty, north of Melbourne, yesterday morning in relation to "suspicious behaviour" between Seymour and Yea.
Police said the investigation was in its initial stages and provided no further details.
Fury at arsonists has soared as police confirmed that as well as the Gippsland deaths, arsonists may have been responsible for the fire that almost completely razed the township of Marysville, where the death toll could rise to 100. So far eight deaths have been confirmed in the town.
And even as firefighters battled to save more lives and property, two fires were deliberately lit near Beechworth, in northeast Victoria, on Tuesday night. The outbreaks were controlled before they could cause further significant damage to an already ravaged area.
In New South Wales, where a review of the state's arson laws was launched this week, two people have been charged with lighting fires.
Major bushfires have also been burning in that state.
Jason Nicholas Farrell, 31, of Sydney, was refused bail on a charge of lighting a fire near Gosford on Saturday, and a 15-year-old boy has been charged with starting another blaze in the Blue Mountains. NSW Premier Nathan Rees said that bushfire arson carried a maximum penalty of 25 years and that no mercy would be shown to convicted firebugs. "We will throw the book at you," he said.
His anger has been reflected in Canberra, where federal authorities warned that arsonists convicted of setting fires that caused death could be charged with murder. "This is simply murder on a grand scale," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said, urging a new drive against firebugs.
Arson is likely to be discussed by federal and state ministers at the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments, which urged national action in its inquiry into the 2003 bushfires that swept across southeast Australia.
Earlier, an Australian Institute of Criminology study warned that as many as 50 per cent of the nation's bushfires were deliberately lit.
