Pleas entered over Easter long weekend fires lit near campers

By Grace Carter

Mar 21, 2025

A man who set fires near where people were camping has entered pleas to charges.

A man who set fires near where 2000 people were camping and that took 33 CFA units to control has entered a plea to charges.

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Brendan Helmore, 44, from the Bendigo suburb of Golden Square, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to intentionally causing a fire and possessing methamphetamines.

In a successful bail application in November 2024, the court heard Helmore set more than 30 fires, each up to as big as 1.24 hectares, at Ulupna Island near Strathmerton at about 12.50pm on Easter Saturday, March 30, 2024.

About 2000 people were camping in the area that weekend.

It took 33 CFA units to control the fires, four hours to get them under control and seven days to confirm the area was safe.

The court had also previously heard Helmore thought he was lost after taking methamphetamines and going for a walk in the bush.

Helmore told police he set the fires to get help from a plane that was flying over because he thought he was going to die.

He received bail in November 2024 after a psychiatric report stating he had schizophrenia and was in a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the offences was submitted to the court.

Helmore will face the Shepparton County Court in May for a plea hearing.