Dunalley fire claim denied

themercury.com.au

Court Reporter

A WOMAN and a man have responded to allegations they were responsible for the devastating 2013 Dunalley bushfire, arguing a campfire on the woman’s property was “completely extinguished” before the bushfire began.

More than 440 people have joined a class action against

SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397

Melissa Jayne Barrett Hamish Robinson.

It is alleged a campfire lit in a tree stump on Ms Barrett’s property on December 28, 2012, was not properly extinguished and continued as a smouldering burn, escaping the property six days later.

A bushfire that started in Forcett on January 3 burnt for 14 days and destroyed 193 homes in Dunalley and surrounding and areas. In defences filed with the Supreme Court in Hobart, which have now been obtained by the Mercury, Ms Barrett said she saw a fire in the afternoon of January 3, “downhill of the tree stump and not in the immediate area around it”. She said the fire lit on December 28 on her property was lit in “calm, cool and safe conditions, and was completely extinguished”.

“[Ms Barrett] says that there was nothing observed to indicate to a person in [her position], on or after 29 December 2012, there was continued burning in a tree stump or its root system.”

Ms Barrett has also denied seeing steam rising from the stump on January 1, as alleged by the plaintiffs, and denied there was a smouldering burn.

Hamish Robinson, according to his defence, was staying with Ms Barrett between December 28, 2012, and January 1, 2013, and returned on January 3 at her request when she saw fire at the property.

Mr Robinson said he heaped dirt on the fire coals about 9pm on December 28, and Ms Barrett put two or more buckets of water on them.

In his defence, he said it was drizzling rain on December 29, and he “hovered his hand over the site of the fire and observed and felt that the site was cold and the fire had been put out”.

“He did not observe any smoke coming from the site of the fire, and he did not observe any other signs of smouldering from the site of the fire,” Mr Robinson’s defence reads.

The case is expected to come before the Supreme Court in Hobart in March.