WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

AT least 30 volunteer rural NSW fire fighters are being closely monitored by senior officers as suspected firebugs.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,20 ... public_rss

Big brother is watching ...

Quoting from the article:

The suspected arsonists appear on a NSW police database that contains hundreds of people being monitored by Strike Force Tronto

and

Some of those under suspicion ... have no idea they are being monitored.

If I were a vollie firefighter I wouldn't be too impressed at the tone of this article and even less impressed at the possibility of being on some secret database without my knowledge or consent, simply because (I assume) some profiler has decided that for some reason I'm suspicious.

While I accept that in the past some firefighters have been discovered to be responsible for lighting fires, I think this kind of article has the potential to tar all firefighters with the same brush. Suddenly the people who are giving up their time and energy for the benefit of the community are perhaps being treated with suspicion rather than respect.

Haha, gonna agree with you there.

As a volunteer firefighter myself, I can tell you im not impressed with this article at all.

Police have estimated one in five bushfires are lit by volunteer firefighters.

Whose arse did they pull that from? Not Phil Koperbergs...

Just to put a bit of perspective on this... thats 30 people from a volunteer force of nearly 70,000.

I will also say that having seen the destruction caused by some of the more severe fires recently, I fully support the police in their efforts to prosecute any arsonist, volunteer firie or not.