Driver cops $1320 fine for 'careless' act

A driver who committed a careless act kilometres away from a bushfire has offered police a baffling explanation.

On Saturday, police from Campbelltown Highway Patrol watched a man throw a lit cigarette out of his vehicle while they were patrolling Appin Road in Rosemeadow in Sydney’s southwest.

When they pulled him over and questioned why he would do such a thing, the driver simply said: “I’m a boofhead.”

According to a post on the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Facebook page, the incident occurred just 20 kilometres from fires near Wollondilly.

The man was fined $1320 for throwing the cigarette out the window while there is a total fire ban in place and was issued an infringement notice.

People were outraged by the act, with one even saying the punishment needed to be tougher.

“How about the people who have lost everything in the fires take him on a tour of what careless acts can do and to meet the familys [sic] of the lost souls who died in those fires,” one person wrote on the post.

“He should be fined more than that. I’m sure the lives, homes and animals lost; as well as the risk that fighters face every day is worth more than that,” another person wrote.

Temperatures to soar later this week

NSW firefighters are taking advantage of easing conditions to try to get bushfires ravaging the state under control before temperatures soar later this week.

At 6am on Sunday there were 96 bush and grass fires in NSW – 47 of which were not contained. Four fires are at a watch and act level.

The central ranges, northwestern, New England, Greater Hunter and northern slopes regions are all facing a day of very high fire danger.

The danger is high in the Greater Sydney, Monaro alpine, far north coast, southern slopes, north coast, ACT, southern ranges and Illawarra/Shoalhaven areas, and low to moderate in the rest of NSW.

With AAP

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