Police say a fire which burned through three thousand hectares of bushland on the NSW mid-north coast may have been deliberately lit.
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00:00 So, police have said that the arson unit of the NSW Police Financial Crime Squad is investigating
00:09 the cause of this fire near Kempsey, about 15km east of Kempsey, as suspicious.
00:16 Now that fire started last Tuesday afternoon at around 4pm and it's burned since then.
00:24 It's now controlled but it's burned over 3,000 hectares of the Hat Head National Park, largely
00:30 through bushland.
00:31 There haven't been any injuries reported from that fire but like you said, police are investigating
00:36 that as potentially suspicious.
00:39 They're interested to talk to the driver of a white Nissan Ute that was seen in that area
00:45 at around 3pm that afternoon.
00:49 They started that morning, whether they're potentially linked to this fire.
00:53 So they've asked anyone with any information or any potential witnesses in that area to
00:58 reach out to local police or Crime Stoppers.
01:01 And how challenging are conditions likely to be today?
01:05 Conditions are quite challenging for firefighters across the state today.
01:08 There's a high fire danger rating for large parts of the state.
01:12 We've got hot, dry winds, quite high temperatures across a lot of the state, which are making
01:18 those conditions quite difficult for firefighters.
01:21 We had some hot conditions on Sunday, some slight easing earlier in the week, but now
01:26 today those conditions are quite challenging.
01:29 We're likely to see also some gusty southerly winds come through this afternoon that are
01:35 going to make that even more difficult for firefighters and put pressure on the containment
01:39 lines that they've established over the past week.
01:42 So that's over the next day or so and then we're likely to actually see some heavy rain
01:47 coming through tomorrow, which will provide some relief to those firefighters.
01:51 But New South Wales Rural Fire Service has said everyone across the state in areas concerned
01:56 or otherwise should keep up to date online and review those procedures for what you'll
02:00 do if a fire does threaten your home.
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