A man from Tasmania’s north-west has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly setting fire to a home and taking “actions” towards police officers called to the scene.
The 33-year-old from Forest is accused of starting the fire at the rural home near Smithton on Wednesday, while reportedly attempting to take the lives of three police officers who attended the incident.
He is now facing charges of arson, three counts of attempted murder and five counts of breaching an interim family violence order.
Police said officers were first called to the property earlier that morning after receiving a notification from an electronic monitoring device.
The Tasmania Fire Service was then called to the scene shortly after 12pm when a fire started inside the home.
The fire was contained and the man, who was the only person inside the property, was taken into custody.
He was treated at the scene by paramedics for non-life-threatening injuries and taken to the North-West Regional Hospital for assessment.
A Tasmania Police spokesperson confirmed no officers were physically injured in the “isolated incident”.
The man is being held in custody and will appear in an out of hours court this evening.
