I was on the bus into Perth at about 2.45PM today when it had to make a detour off Charles Street in North Perth. The problem was a burnt out van in a driveway just near Paddington Street.

The thing was still smoking after the firies had put it out. So it must have been fully ablaze only minutes beforehand.



I had a look from the other side of the road. Even there the smoke was truly noxious and acrid.



The cops were present, as I assume they are at all fires. So maybe it's wrong to read anything into their presence, and it was just an accident.

But judging by the look of the van it seemed to have gone up in flames all of a sudden. Perhaps it was due to faulty wiring. And it was a very hot day today, so maybe that was a factor. But it seems possible to me that it had been intentionally lit.





The road block and detour certainly slowed things down a bit. Charles St is one of the main roads from the northern suburbs into the city centre.



When I got there, the mainstream media had not yet arrived. The guys shown above got there a couple of minutes later. So, if I'm to call myself a citizen journo then I was first on the scene!

Speaking of news coverage: I missed the TV news bulletins earlier this evening, so I'm not sure if this event was included in any of them. But I can't see it reported in any of the online editions of major local papers so far. That's kind of odd.

In any case, it will be interesting to learn more about this event in coming days. My guess is that it may well have been an act of sabotage.

UPDATE: Hardly a coup for independent reporting. Have just learned through Twitter that Channel Ten were there earlier. Captured the van still in flames.