Janelle Harbrow, 29, from Shepparton appeared in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court charged with five counts of arson.
She has not entered pleas to any of the charges.
Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit’s Senior Constable Harrison Davis told the court during a bail application that Ms Harbrow used matches and a jet lighter to set a large palm tree on fire in Essex Crt, Shepparton, at about 8.40am on February 8.
Embers from the fire were carried in the wind, setting fire to rubbish, a council rubbish bin and a fence at another house in Essex Crt and an adjoining property in Archer St.
Fifteen minutes later, at 8.55am, Ms Harbrow allegedly set fire to dry grass and pine cones in Dorset Crt, Sen Constable Davies said.
This caused a fence that adjoins a park to catch fire.
Another 15 minutes later, at 9.10am, police allege Ms Harbrow set fire to a palm tree at the front of an aged care facility in Channel Rd.
Firefighters were called to extinguish all the fires.
Ms Harbrow was arrested a bit over an hour later but could not be interviewed at the time because she was “severely drug affected”, Sen Constable Davis said.
The police officer opposed Ms Harbrow being granted bail, saying she was a “serious risk to public safety”.
“Lighting fires is a serious issue,” Sen Constable Davis said.
“If an ember lands on someone’s house, especially an aged care facility, that’s exceptionally grave.”
Sen Constable Davis said police were also investigating 10 individual fires 10 hours earlier in Lincoln Dve in Shepparton, and said Ms Harbrow had the same “modus operandi” to those fires in that she also lit numerous fires within a short distance of each other.
Ms Harbrow has not been charged with the Lincoln Dve fires, and police investigations into them are continuing.
Sen Constable Davis said Ms Harbrow had lit other fires previously, including one at the rear of a bungalow, and one in the garden bed at her mother’s house.
At a bail application, Ms Harbrow’s mother gave evidence that her daughter was having mental health issues and she needed help.
Ms Harbrow’s solicitor Luke Slater said that if bailed, his client could be given help to get back on to medication she needed for mental health issues, including borderline personality disorder.
He also said there was a risk if she was not bailed, that she could spend more time in custody on remand than what she was sentenced to.
Magistrate Olivia Trumble said the fires Ms Harbrow had been charged with were serious.
“The one in the nursing home is extremely concerning because it was very close to the building,” she said.
However, Ms Trumble said she was also concerned about Ms Harbrow’s mental health and drug use, saying she was “loathe to refuse her bail”.
Ms Trumble adjourned the bail application part heard for another 11 days, with Ms Harbrow spending that time in custody.
On her second appearance in court, Ms Harbrow was bailed, with conditions including that she apply with the court integrated services program.
Ms Trumble also ruled that Ms Harbrow appear again in court five days later, on February 24, and show that she had made three different appointments to help with her mental health.
However, she failed to appear in court on February 24, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
She was arrested and brought before the court the following day and remanded in custody to next appear before the court later in March.
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