Investigations are continuing into four suspicious car fires in Gunnedah over the weekend.
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The first incident occurred early Friday morning, when firefighters were called to a grass fire behind the sub-station on Wandobah Road at 5.30am – only to discover a Toyota Corolla sedan well alight.
Two trucks with 10 crew members from Gunnedah Fire and Rescue attended the scene, backed up by firefighters from Gunnedah Rural Fire Service.
The vehicle was found alight on the site of a previous car fire and firefighters soon had it under control.
Police said the car was stolen from a Stock Road address sometime after 8pm on Thursday night before it was torched.
The owner of the vehicle told police he had placed the keys to the Corolla in the centre console of another car and entered his house.
A gold Holden Commodore stolen from a Wandobah Road residence was gutted in a second blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Police were notified of a vehicle fire on Bush’s Lane at 12.30am and on arrival, found the commodore destroyed.
Officers spoke to the owner of the car who said they had parked the vehicle on Wandobah Road at 3.30pm on Friday.
The owner told police there was a faulty lock on one of the doors of the vehicle, which may have allowed access to an offender.
The third incident occurred in the early hours of Monday morning when a Toyota Hilux utility was found alight on Hunt’s Road at 1.30am.
The vehicle was stolen from a Banksia Place address.
Immediately afterwards a Ford Falcon sedan, also stolen from Banksia Place, was found on fire only 150m away in McCalls Road.
Police said both vehicles had spare keys inside, with one reportedly left unlocked.
All blazes are being treated as suspicious.
Meanwhile, on the same night another Banksia Place resident reported a bag containing a wallet and mobile phone stolen.
The resident returned home at 9.30pm on Sunday night and told police they had forgotten to close their garage door.
After spotting police conducting investigations in the street the following morning, they noticed their bag had been stolen from a bench inside the garage.
Gunnedah Police Inspector Paul Johnson said people need to take personal accountability for their property.
“I feel like I am hitting my head against a brick wall. It is happening time and time again and it’s coming down to security,” Inspector Johnson said.
He said in the first case it is clear the keys must have been used to access the vehicle and opportunistic thieves are taking advantage of the situation.
“Personal security cannot be understated – you earn the money to pay for your property, don’t make it easy for people to walk in off the street and take it.
“It makes it difficult for police to combat thefts when people make it easy for would-be-thieves.
“People need to remove spare keys from vehicles as well.
“Lock your house, lock up your items and don’t leave your keys where they will be easily found.”
Police are urging for anyone with information to contact Gunnedah Police or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.