Hobart, Tasmania:  Odd Grass Fire

© 2013 by Linda Moulton Howe

“Once we put the (Hobart, Tasmania) fire out,
we kind of walked through the fire and tried to find something.
We thought a flare or something might have landed there,
but we could not find any (flare) or cause.” 

- Scott Vinen, Tasmania Fire Service Officer

Tasmania is an island state, part of the Commonwealth of Australia, located
240 kilometers (150 mi) to the south of Melbourne and the Australian continent,
separated by the Bass Strait. Tasmania is thought to have been a part of mainland
Australia until the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago when
sea levels rose and made Tasmania into an island.

Hobart, Tasmania, population 211,000, with its large port and international airport,
is a gateway to East Antarctica and the Southern Ocean for scientific
research expeditions and cruise ships. Image © 2011 by J. J. Harrison.

March 10, 2013  Hobart, Tasmania - Early Saturday morning, March 2, 2013, something happened on a dry grass hill in Hobart, Tasmania, that caused a localized fire shown in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation News photo below. Even though there is a strict ban on fireworks in Tasmania because of the fire hazard in their 2013 hot, summer drought, officials speculated the cause was somebody's fireworks. But not confirmed.

A burnt circle of grass in Hobart, Tasmania, where a bright light reportedly fell from
the sky and started a small fire the early morning of Saturday, March 2, 2013.
Officials speculated the cause was fireworks, but no flare residue was found.
Image © 2013 by Fiona Blackwood, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News.

Tasmanian police and firefighters are unable to confirm the source of a beam of light, or “bright
falling light,” which reportedly fell from the sky and caused the odd grass fire on the hill in the Hobart suburb. Police and fire crews received calls from Carnegie Street at Claremont.

TV Producer Denise Blazek from Perth, Australia, emailed me:

[Tasmanian ABC-1 news editor, Andrew] Fisher, confirmed there is a full fire ban in Tasmania, so nobody should be letting off flares or fireworks (we can’t buy fireworks in this country in shops ). Fisher seems to think some idiot let off a flare and the locals were partying and drinking, thus thinking it was something else, ie; not a flare. ...We agreed on the phone it would be outrageous for anyone to decide to set off a flare - also considering Tasmania is ‘a small town’ and doing so, your neighbours on aligning properties would be horrified you would do so – everything is so dry at the moment in a record heat summer. You would be putting everyone’s lives in danger for a ‘bit of fun.’

Tasmania Fire Service Officer Scott Vinen, who was at the Hobart hill site helping to put out the fire, said he was baffled by it. “Once we put the fire out, we kind of walked through the fire and tried to find something. We thought a flare or something might have landed there, but we could not find any (flare) or cause.”

April 2005 - Another Odd Grass Fire At Mount Mee

The red Google map pointer is Mount Mee
in D'Aguilar National Park 45 miles (72 km) northwest
of Brisbane marked with red circle. Hobart, Tasmania,
is 1,500 miles southwest of Brisbane.

Denise told me about another odd fire event in April 2005, in Mount Mee, a mountain in Queensland, Australia, located in the D'Aguilar National Park, 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Brisbane. The area around Mount Mee was known to the indigenous inhabitants of the area as Dahmongah, a word meaning “flying squirrel” or glider. The European name “Mount Mee” is possibly derived from another local word mia-mia, meaning “lookout.”

Denise Blazek, TV Producer, Perth, Western Australia:  The Tasmania story made me remember another fire event, which happened in Queensland in April of 2005. The investigator on that case was Mary Rodwell, Registered Nurse, Founder and Principal of the Australian Close Encounter Resource Network (ACERN), Agnes Water, Queensland, Australia.

The location was Mount Mee. There was a burned patch on the ground, which seemed to be spontaneous combustion. The Valley where this occurred is isolated and has a history of UFO sightings.

Mary Rodwell emailed me the following comments and two photos taken by a local resident at the time of the April 2005 Mount Mee mysterious grass fire.

Mary Rodwell, RN, Agnes Water, Queensland, Australia:  In the morning on the same day as the fire phenomenon, a UFO was seen by a number of people in the Mount Mee valley where there have been many UFO sightings. The lady who sent me all the data is very spiritual and has seen many aerial craft with her family. The photo below is a close-up of how the April 2005 Mount Mee fire burned in lines, which is quite bizarre.

The pics were taken by Franziska Burkart. She lives just above the paddock and took the pics on April 26, 2005, at the Mount Mee, Queensland, strange burn site. She said that the aborigines believe that the star visitors are from the Pleiades and Orion B.
She was told by the Elder to look for this grass fire sign 2 days later after he told her, as if he knew it was going to happen. The light that was seen the morning of that day was further away and about 5 metres high.

Mary Rodwell, RN:  “This is a close-up of how the April 2005 fire Mount Mee burned
in lines, which is quite bizarre.” Image of odd April 2005 Mount Mee fire burn provided
by Mary Rodwell, RN, and ACERN Founder. Photo © 2005 by Franziska Burkart.

Image of odd April 2005 Mount Mee fire provided by Mary Rodwell, RN,
and ACERN Founder. Photo © 2005 by Franziska Burkart.