With 17 separate calls to structures being set alight since February, police have confirmed that many were deliberately lit and have eyes on suspects. The police have put Strike Force Adaluma in place to address the criminal proceedings, but are attacking the problem from a variety of angles.

Detective Inspector Eugene Stek, the crime manager in Griffith, said that they wanted to address the causes behind the fires rather than just prosecute those responsible.

"Part of the police response is in what support services we can supply," he explained.

"Adaluma is looking at the criminality but the whole district is working with health and housing to find what we're missing to have caused this. Overzealous policing won't fix things so the approach we're taking is more of a holistic approach ... We're doing a number of days in the area to try and break down some of the barriers."

Detective Inspector Stek said that the police had seen this kind of thing before in similar areas, and would be trying to take what they've learnt from those to tackle the root causes.

"Not so much in Pioneer, but in other areas - especially disadvantaged areas with high rates of unemployment or drug use - it happens. In our case, we're looking at young people being responsible so we're working closely with families in the area. It does happen from time to time," he said.

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Police have been making inquiries since September, and have identified a number they believe are responsible for the fires. They haven't yet ruled out the possibility of copycats.

"We think there's a core group of kids but some of them were copied - once they see one go up, it can be quite exciting," Detective Inspector Stek explained.

"Sometimes you might just have kids who see some excitement in that behaviour, and they're going through complex relationships with their families. All you need is one strong-minded kid to start leading some others."

Strike Force Adaluma and the police are asking the community for information on the events.

"We need people to stand up and say this is not acceptable, and work with us to help them ... Our main concern is what happens if somebody just trying to seek shelter breaks in to sleep in there and it goes up, this could absolutely turn catastrophic."

Police inquiries are continuing, and they are encouraging anyone with information to contact Griffith Police Station at 6969 4299 or Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000. Anonymous reporting is also available.

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