Police have charged a teenager with deliberately lighting two fires that threatened homes in southern New South Wales.
Emergency services were called to Scenic Hill, Griffith, on Saturday night to reports of two bushfires.
NSW Rural Fire Service operational officer Scott Connor said almost 15 properties were initially threatened.
"It was probably about an hour after the fire started that we got the fire suppressed enough that the threat reduced," he said.
Firefighters have since extinguished the blaze, which burnt an estimated 17 hectares over several days.
Murrumbidgee Police District officers began an investigation into the cause of the fires and arrested a 16-year-old boy in the Leeton area just before 5pm on Wednesday.
He has been charged with two counts of intentionally cause fire and be reckless as to its spread, and one count of possess prohibited drug.
The boy was granted strict conditional bail to appear before a children's court on February 20.
Fires burning quicker than usual
Mr Connor said there had been more than 25 fires in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area since Christmas, with about 14 of those around Griffith.
He said it was not abnormal to see that number of fires at this time of year but that fire behaviour was unusual.
"Fires are burning much larger areas than they used to over previous years," Mr Connor said.
"We're starting to see the effects of La Niña — all the rain we had last year and the grass growth — and fires are starting to move quicker through the landscape."
