Dangerous: Fire fighters mop up at Emu Creek. Picture: Apex Imagery
A FIRE which damaged a playground and threatened a house and church in Emu Creek yesterday is under investigation by police, the latest in a spate of suspicious fires in the region.
Axe Creek, Strathfieldsaye and Bendigo CFA units were called out to a grass and scrub fire which started in a creek near the corner of Hargreaves Road and Emu Creek Road at 12.48pm yesterday.
The fire took officers 20 minutes to control and caused damage to play equipment.
Bendigo CFA senior station officer Craig Houlahan said the suspicious fire was currently under investigation by Axedale police. Mr Houlahan said the blaze had the potential to be dangerous because of the amount of vegetation around the area and its close promixity to houses.
“It was a forested area with some pine trees in excess of 100 years old, so there was lots of fuel,” he said. “It made the fire fight difficult because of accessibility and fuel loads.”
In the past month the Bendigo Advertiser has reported on eight suspicious fires in the region:
● Two fires on Eaglehawk Road at the back of a BP on New Year’s Eve,
● Two fires at a playground on Prouses Road, Bendigo on January 8,
● A scrub fire in Wedderburn on January 9,
● A group of fires lit at Chewton Cemetery on January 19,
● A scrub fire on DSE land on Sailors Gully Road, Eaglehawk, on January 23,
● A scrub fire at Mia Mia on January 25,
● A scrub fire on Adelaide Hills Road, Huntly, on January 25.
A 16-year-old was charged over a deliberately-lit fire at Crusoe Reservoir on Friday, January 11.