A SHEPPARTON man has been convicted and fined $5,000 for lighting a campfire in Victoria’s north-east, during a statewide Total Fire Ban on December 26, 2024. The 41-year-old was sentenced in the Mansfield Magistrates’ Court last month, after failing to appear for the scheduled court hearing in relation to the offence.
Conservation Regulator and Forest Fire Management Victoria Authorised Officers discovered the campfire at the Blue Gum Flat campground while on patrol in the Delatite Arm Reserve during dangerous fire conditions.
The man was at the campground at the time and acknowledged that he knew campfires were prohibited that day due to a Total Fire Ban. After admitting to lighting the campfire, the man was verbally abusive towards the investigating Authorised Officer.
Under Total Fire Ban conditions, lighting fires in the open air is illegal as it puts lives, property, and the environment at serious risk.
“Total Fire Bans are declared to protect the community and the environment and ignoring them puts community and firefighters’ lives and landscapes at extreme risk,” said Hume Manager of Regulatory Operations Greg Chant.
“An escaped campfire on a day of Total Fire Ban can have devastating consequences, and that’s why campers must comply with the restrictions. This court outcome sends a clear message that breaches of Total Fire Bans will be taken seriously, with offenders prosecuted and held to account.”
In sentencing, the Magistrate remarked on the man’s “blatant disregard” for the Total Fire Ban and the seriousness of potential consequences, particularly given the local community’s experience with bushfires.
