Victorian police say a serial arsonist is being investigated over the weekend's Gippsland blaze which killed 21 people, but two men arrested following suspicious behaviour this morning have been released.
The pair were arrested this morning near Taggerty in the state's north after reports of "suspicious behaviour between Seymour and Yea in relation to the fires", a police spokeswoman said. They were later released without charge, Sky News reported.
Police were close to releasing a photo of the Gippland suspect, deputy commissioner Simon Overland said, but he would not comment on a rumour that the suspect is a teenager, News Ltd reported.
"There has been a serial arsonist in this area for some period time and we have been working on that," Mr Overland said.
"It's too early to say whether it was that person that was responsible for the fire that happened on Saturday, but that's obviously something we will follow through."
Mr Overland refused to be drawn on rumours the person they were looking for, could in fact be a teenager sighted riding into pine areas on a dirt bike.
"We are concerned about any information that might lead us to the person responsible. The public has been wonderful passing information through to us and we ask them to continue to do that.
"Even the smallest piece of information are important and it could be that one piece of information that helps us put the jigsaw together."
The fire in Marysville is also being investigated as possible arson because of its ferocity, it has been reported. So far eight deaths have been confirmed in the town but it is feared up to 100 of the town's 519 people might have died.
Victorian Premier John Brumby today confirmed a 15-hectare grass fire at Mansfield, started on Wednesday, was deliberately lit.
"Again what do you say about this except that we have a huge police team which is out there trying to track down any of these people responsible," he said.
Fires in East Kilmore, between Yea and Seymour, started on Saturday and merged with the Yea-Murrindindi fire creating the massive Kinglake Complex fire.
This fire, which was not started by arsonists, has burnt almost 230,000ha, destroyed 550 homes and killed at least 147 people in a wide area from Wandong, north of Melbourne to Marysville and Taggerty.
