‘Firebug’, 71, is charged with ‘deliberately lighting a blaze that has destroyed 40 hectares of bushland’ and is showing no signs of slowing down

By Charlie Coë For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 04:11 GMT, 28 December 2019 | Updated: 04:21 GMT, 28 December 2019

A 71-year-old man allegedly lit a blaze which has destroyed dozens of hectares of bushland.

Emergency services were called to a property 18km north-west of Moruya on the NSW South Coast after receiving reports of a fire. 

The fire then spread to the nearby Wandera State Forest, where it is continuing to burn through more than 40 hectares of bushland.

A 71-year-old man allegedly lit a blaze which has destroyed more than 40 hectares of bushland (pictured Rural Fire Service crews battle to protect a home near Tahmoor south-west of Sydney on December 19)

A 71-year-old man allegedly lit a blaze which has destroyed more than 40 hectares of bushland (pictured Rural Fire Service crews battle to protect a home near Tahmoor south-west of Sydney on December 19)

NSW Police allege the man lit the fire without a permit and arrested him after speaking with him at the property in Araluen Road.  

He was arrested and taken to Moruya Police Station, where he was charged with allegedly lighting a fire for land clearance or fire break without a permit.

He was also charged with allegedly permitting a fire to escape his land and allegedly causing damage. 

The man was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Moruya Local Court on Friday 10 January 2020. 

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