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Teenage girls caught trying to start fire in Perth street

Two teenage girls have been filmed lighting their clothes on fire alongside dense bushland in Perth.

The potty-mouthed pair were caught in the act in Oakford, southeast of Perth, about 7pm on Tuesday (local time), according to local man Scott Langley.

The 23-year-old, who lives about 100 metres away, was driving by at the time and pulled over to extinguish the fire, reminding the girls of the total fire ban currently in place.

“What the f*** are you doing?” he was heard saying in footage of the confrontation.

One of the girls responded claiming “we had to burn our clothes”.

Mr Langley asked the girls to “put it out” as he stepped out of the car and hurried over to extinguish it with his shoe.

Two girls girls shown after lighting their clothes on fire on a road alongside dense bushland in Perth.
The girls swore at Mr Langley while slowly walking away from the scene. Source: Scott Langley

“There’s a complete fire ban. Don’t burn your clothes on the road ... where do you live?” he said.

One of the girls replied saying, “It doesn’t f****** matter where we live”, and Mr Langley encouraged them to “go home”.

“You go home,” one of them retorted.

The duo slowly walked away from the scene, unaware Mr Langley’s passenger had filmed the entire encounter.

“As a local resident and seeing how quickly these fires from across the country ruins lives and homes I knew I had to stop and put it out,” Mr Langley told Yahoo News Australia.

“If a gust of wind picked up the fire and caught the nearby scrub it could have been horrible, and I didn’t want two girls who had no idea about the potential consequences to do that.”

He added that “judging by their response” he was doubtful the girls would have cared in the slightest if they started a bushfire.

Girls pictured attempting to burn clothes.
The girls claimed they "had to" burn their clothes, but Mr Langley was not impressed. Source: Scott Langley

Not far away in Bullsbrook, on Perth's north-eastern fringe, fire threatened homes on Tuesday but returned to a “watch and act” within about an hour.

Meanwhile, two bushfires are currently threatening lives and homes in the Geraldton area in Western Australia's Mid West region.

NSW has remained in a state of emergency after bushfires caused damage or loss of 50 homes in Tuesday’s unprecedented catastrophic conditions.

Three people have died since Friday – two people in the Kangawalla blaze near Glen Innes and one in the Crowdy Bay fire near Taree, while 13 firefighters sustained non life-threatening injuries.

With AAP

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