A MAN was fined a total of $2600 in Kempsey Local Court on Monday for lighting fires which burnt through bushland around Collombatti in August, and for damaging an RFS vehicle.
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Sixty year-old David Playford Grimmer of Larkins Rd, Deep Creek was fined $800 for each of three charges of lighting a fire for clearing without a permit in contravention of section 86 of the Rural Fire Act 1997.
He was also fined $200 and ordered to pay $400 in compensation for damaging an RFS Toyota Hi-Lux by hitting it with a walking stick and denting the bonnet.
Mr Grimmer was found guilty of lighting fires between August 1 and August 9 this year.
The August 1 fire burned through more than 120ha and threatened houses and destroyed farm buildings in nearby Collombatti.
It took seven RFS trucks, a water-bombing helicopter and the desperate efforts of land owners in the area to extinguish the fire, which burned for more than 24 hours.
In addition to the fines for the fire offences Mr Grimmer was fined $1000 for assaulting a police officer and $200 for resisting arrest in relation to an unrelated incident on September 8, when he was stopped by police for driving an unlicensed vehicle in River St.
Mr Grimmer did not attend the court proceedings.
