"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." President Teddy Roosevelt, NY State Fair, Syracuse, New York 1903
YEA, Australia (AP) — A spokeswoman says police have arrested a man in connection to one of the recent deadly wildfires that swept southern Australia.
Victoria state police spokeswoman Marika Fengler confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that a man had been arrested, but would give no further details.
The wildfires that have so far claimed more than 170 lives in Australia highlight vulnerabilities in a country where the population is spilling into rural areas already under stress from sometimes extreme weather conditions.
Police suspect arsonists played a role in starting the blazes in Australia, one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history.
Four firefighters have been arrested on suspicion of igniting between 15 and 20 fires in western Arizona so they could get paid for fighting them, officials said Tuesday.
Authorities also charged two men suspected of setting fires to get money from the firefighters, and were seeking arrest warrants for two former firefighters who have moved out of state.
The firefighters worked at the fire district in Ehrenberg, a town of about 1,200 people and about 140 miles west of Phoenix on the Arizona-California line. They got $10 an hour per fire.
The six men arrested are suspected of igniting at least 15 fires in abandoned trailer homes, on open land and in expensive haystacks owned by farmers between January 2006 and last week, La Paz County sheriff's Lt. Glenn Gilbert said.
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