Castlereagh, Londonderry: Shane Andrews faces court on ‘arson’ charges
A Hawkesbury man will remain behind bars on remand for at least a month after police allege he deliberately started fires at the height of bushfire season.
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A Hawkesbury man who police allege started a series of suspicious bushfires during the height of the summer fire season last year has been remanded in custody.
Shane Andrews, 39, of Richmond, was arrested at his home at about 9.20am on Friday after a 10-month investigation by Strike Force Myler.
Emergency services were called to reports of two bushfires in Castlereagh and Londonderry on December 3 last year.
When fire crews arrived shortly after 2.30pm to find fires burning near Firetrail Rd, Castlereagh, and Smeeton Rd, Londonderry.
A third bushfire was reported on Wilshire Rd, Londonderry, at 3.10pm on the same day.
Police allege Andrews started those three fires, and two others at Clarendon and Richmond later that night.
All the fires were extinguished after several hours, but not before more than 40 hectares of bushland was burnt.
Police announced in March they were searching for a suspicious Toyota Rav 4 that was seen in the vicinity of the first three fires.
Andrews was charged with five counts of intentionally cause a fire and be reckless as to its spread.
He appeared before Magistrate Brian van Zuylen at Penrith Local Court on Friday afternoon where he was refused bail on the five charges.
He will next appear before Windsor Local Court on November 18.
The 2019-2020 fire season saw 17 million hectares burnt across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, the ACT, Western Australia and South Australia. Almost a third of that land was burned in NSW.
The Gospers Mountain bushfire burned out almost 500,000 hectares and threatened homes in the Hawkesbury and Lithgow areas, not far from where Andrews allegedly started the Castlereagh fires.
The South Coast was badly affected, with fires burning more than 250,000 hectares and threatening the towns of Termeil, Bawley Point, Kioloa, Batemans Bay, and Mogo.
The town of Cobargo was almost completely destroyed.
The dry and hot conditions that set the stage for the bushfire catastrophe were boosted by climate change, the World Weather Attribution international consortium of scientists has said.