Revealed: The NSW firefighters who turned into firebugs
What if the person tasked with putting out a suspicious fire was the one who lit it? We look into some of the strangest fire ground investigations.
The South Coast News
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What if an investigation into the origin of a fire leads back to the fire shed?
Firefighting agencies have skilled investigators who work to identify the origin and cause of fires, with the investigation sometimes pinpointing one of their own as the perpetrator.
In NSW a person convicted of recklessly or intentionally starting a bushfire can now be jailed for up to 14 years, and 25 years if they intend to hurt another person by deliberately lighting a fire.
BROTHERS PLOT TO MAKE MONEY
In 2019, retained NSW Fire and Rescue firefighter Joshua Lambkin, 31, was sentenced to seven years and nine months behind bars for lighting several fires near Kurri Kurri west of Newcastle in 2017.
Lambkin was sentenced alongside his 29-year-old younger brother Craig, who was eventually tailed by two witnesses, who tracked him to his Weston home where he was arrested by police.
The court heard Lambkin, along with another firefighter, had encouraged Craig to light the fires in exchange for cannabis.
The court heard it was also believed there was an agreement Craig would light the fires, and Joshua would be paid to put them out after they got out of control.
Text messages between the two before one of the fires brought their plan unstuck, the court heard.
The fires were started at Loxford, Chinaman’s Hollow and Kurri Kurri during a heatwave and sweltering conditions, burning 300 hectares of bush in January, 2017, the court heard.
The court heard the fire at Kurri Kurri on January 24 started when Craig tossed a lit cigarette into bushland between the cemetery and a public school before he rode away on a pushbike.
The blaze quickly got out of control and forced the evacuation of the local aquatic centre, nearby homes and Kurri Kurri Hospital.
Craig pleaded guilty to three counts of intentionally causing fire and being reckless as to its spread and was sentenced to a maximum of five years and six months behind bars, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
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A FASCINATION WITH LIGHTING FIRES
Disgraced NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer Daniel James Crawford, 36, was sentenced in August last year for deliberately lighting seven fires in Sydney’s southwest.
While the Spring Farm father of three maintained his innocence throughout his trial, he was found guilty of lighting fires at Elderslie, Spring Farm, Narellan Vale, Smeaton Grange and Menangle Park between September 2017 and January 2018.
During his trial the court heard Crawford had said he joined the RFS because he didn’t have many friends, with Judge John Pickering adding he had a fascination with lighting fires and then putting them out.
“Perhaps being a hero and putting them out influenced his decision but I don’t know, that’s a degree of speculation,” Judge Pickering said during the trial.
Police put a tracking device on Crawdord’s car in order to catch him. The device placed him at three of the fires.
Crawford was sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment with a non parole period of 16 months.
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TEN YEARS UNTIL A CONVICTION
In 2018, veteran NSW RFS volunteer Debbie Brereton, from Manyana on the south coast, was found guilty of intentionally setting a fire at Bendalong a decade earlier.
Debbie Brereton, 60, a Bendalong Rural Fire Brigade volunteer for almost 20 years, was sentenced by Judge Dina Yehia in the Sydney Downing Centre‘s District Court to three years’ jail with a non-parole period of one year and eight months.
Brereton has maintained her innocence, with Judge Dina Yehia telling the court Brereton “had not demonstrated remorse or contrition“ for her behaviour.
Judge Yehia told the court the fires were lit by someone with a strong understanding of how fires burn in a way in which they could be readily contained.
The charges were then withdrawn in 2010 before being reinstated in 2015 after Brereton was convicted of lighting a fire on the south coast in 2014.
Judge Yehia strongly recommended Brereton, an avid bushwalker, be referred to a registered psychologist, or delegate, for ongoing counselling and treatment after her release.
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KITCHEN TABLE CONFESSION?
Joshua Staples was just 20 when he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars after lighting nine grass fires around the Bringelly and Badgerys Creek Creek area in Sydeny in 2011.
Staples would then join with other RFS volunteers to help put out fires he lit in grass and rubbish bins.
During his trial his grandmother told the court Staples had broken down at her kitchen table and confessed to lighting the fires.
In a later development, his sentence was eventually overturned on appeal, and he served the 18 months as an intensive corrections order in the community.
During the 2014 appeal, the court heard Staples denied ever making the admissions to his grandmother and that he was responsible for lighting the fires, even telling his community corrections officer he was accepting the conviction so his matter could be dealt with quickly by the courts.
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MILLION DOLLAR BUSHFIRE EMERGENCY
Former Sydney volunteer firefighter David Mills lit three fires in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, injuring six firefighters and costing the government $1 million to extinguish.
While the 24-year-old Forster man was unable to explain his actions, the court heard he was suffering from depression, after his gardening business failed and he had split with his fiancee.
Two of the fires were started with Molotov cocktails, the court heard.
He had been a probationary firefighter for less than three weeks when he lit the fires, which destroyed almost 1,500 hectares of bushland and threatened property at Terrey Hills, Duffys Forest and Pittwater.
Mills not only reported a fire to emergency services, but joined the 443 personnel, eight aircraft and 50 vehicles tasked with putting it out.
Facing up to 14 years behind bars, the probationary firefighter had his initial sentence more than doubled after a prosecution appealed his initial sentence of 28 months of weekend detention, with a minimum 21 months.
Mills had pleaded guilty to three counts of starting fires in 2004, and the Court of Criminal Appeal increased his sentence to a maximum of five years behind bars and a non-parole period of two years and four months.
FIREBUG WANTED TO USE FIRE TRUCKS
Former volunteer firefighter Jarred Brewer served just under three years in a youth detention centre after lighting a series of fires north of Melbourne and making 16 hoax emergency calls.
Brewer, who was just 19 at the time, lit the fires in 2008 and 2009 so he and other firefighters could get used to using fire trucks.
He pleaded guilty to 19 charges, with Judge Tony Duckett saying Brewer‘s offending presented a serious threat to the welfare of the community.
Judge Duckett told the court Brewer was fortunate he did not cause any property damage or loss of life.
After an assessment due to his low intelligence, he sentenced Brewer to two years and 11 months in a youth justice centre.
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