86Lighting fires without authority

86 Lighting fires without authority

(1) A person commits an offence if the person: (a) sets fire, or causes fire to be set, to the land or property of another person, the Commonwealth or a public authority; or (b) being the owner or occupier of land, permits a fire to escape from the land under such circumstances as to cause, or be likely to cause, injury or damage to: (i) the person, land or property of another person; or (ii) the land or property of the Commonwealth or a public authority.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years, or 300 penalty units, or both.

(1A) In determining the penalty for an offence under subsection (1) that was committed when a total fire ban under Division 7 was in force in the part of the Territory in which the fire was set or was permitted to escape, the court must take the total fire ban into account as a reason for aggravating the seriousness of the criminal behaviour to which the offence relates. (1B) A person commits an offence if the person: (a) sets fire or causes fire to be set to the land or property of another person, the Commonwealth or a public authority; or (b) being the owner or occupier of land, permits a fire to escape from the land under such circumstances as to cause or be likely to cause injury or damage to: (i) the person, land or property of another person; or (ii) the land or property of the Commonwealth or a public authority; knowing that a total fire ban under Division 7 is in force in the part of the Territory in which the fire is set or permitted to escape.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 7 years, or 420 penalty units, or both.

(1C) Subsection (1D) applies if, in a prosecution for an offence (the prosecuted offence) against subsection (1B), the trier of fact: (a) is not satisfied that the defendant is guilty of the prosecuted offence; but (b) is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of an offence against subsection (1) (the alternative offence). (1D) The trier of fact may find the defendant not guilty of the prosecuted offence but guilty of the alternative offence, so long as the defendant has been accorded procedural fairness in relation to that finding of guilt. (2) A person commits an offence if the person: (a) leaves (temporarily or otherwise) a fire which the person has lit, or used, in the open air before the fire is thoroughly extinguished; and (b) the person does not have lawful authority to do so.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months, or 60 penalty units, or both.

(3) However subsection (2) does not apply to a person if: (a) the person lit or used the fire for cooking, heating, or preparing meals or boiling water, or for a similar purpose, in accordance with any requirements prescribed by the rules; and (b) when the person leaves the fire, the fire continues to be used by another person.