Barwon Local Area Command are currently following up on pieces of information they’ve received from the Moree community during a three-day investigation into 200 deliberately lit fires in and around Moree.
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Over the past three days, police have doorknocked hundreds of homes as part of Operation Claymore Phase 5 – a high-visibility police blitz in Moree, which saw extra officers deployed to town to investigate the recent spate of fires.
Since early December, police and fire crews have been called to more than 200 blazes – all believed to be suspicious.
The arson probe – led by Barwon LAC together with the State Crime Command’s Arson Squad – involved police from the Target Action Group, detectives, uniformed officers and the arson squad, as well as the dog unit, doorknocking at least 200 homes.
Barwon LAC Inspector Martin Burke said officers doorknocked homes in the western and southern parts of town.
“Primarily the focus was in fire areas in town,” he said.
Inspector Burke said police have been heartened by the response from the community.
“It’s been positive,” he said.
“The dialogue with community members has been pleasing.
“We’re following up on a number of lines of enquiry for fire offences.
“Operation staff, arson detectives and Barwon detectives are working through that information. We’ve got a lot of information to go through and we’ll continue to go through it.”
Information gathered during the blitz includes the information on potential perpetrators and linking those perpetrators to some of the fire offences that have occurred.
“We’re also looking at information around young people who have had an affinity with fire, but not necessarily committed these offences, and we’ll try to engage with those children to participate in the fire fascination program run by NSW Fire and Rescue,” Inspector Burke said.
The Rural Fire Service Fire Investigation Unit also re-examined one fire scene at James Street in the hopes of gathering sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
Inspector Burke said while Operation Claymore Phase 5 was only in place from Monday to Wednesday, Barwon’s focus on arson-related offences will be ongoing.
“As long as the offences continue to occur, it will continue to remain a priority and once they dry up, we’ll be working on preventative measures to make sure they don’t start up again,” he said.
Police urge anyone with any information on arson-related offences to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000 or Moree police station on 6757 0799.
