Man ordered to pay $500k after careless act caused fire
A man who recklessly felled a pine tree – causing it to fall on power lines and spark an out-of-control fire – will have to pay half-a-million dollars to his neighbours for the damage he caused.
Four years after the blaze at a property in the Marlborough Sounds, the High Court ruled Peter Andrew Collins failed to take ‘‘sufficient safety precautions’’ to prevent the fire, Judge Paul Davison said.
In a recent Auckland High Court judgment, Davison said the fire started after Collins, who was carrying out work at a property on Tumbledown Bay Rd, near Port Underwood, used a chainsaw to cut a tree down across power lines on December 21, 2013.
The plaintiffs from neighbouring properties allege the resulting fire destroyed one holiday home, ruined the contents of another house and, encouraged by a strong northwesterly wind, burnt through 6 hectares of vegetation and several outbuildings.
Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries in the fire, which came dangerously close to the high voltage direct current inter-island link, which connects the North Island and South Island’s electricity networks.
The New Zealand Fire Service Commission and the Marlborough Kaiko¯ ura Rural Fire Authority put out the fire, incurring costs of $107,089.
Fire investigator Russell Joseph agreed the fire started after the tree fell onto the power lines. It caused conductors to connect and arc, with one of the sparking lines then falling away into the bush below, he said in the judgment. Fire then broke out when the live lines hit dry debris on the ground below.
Collins claimed he had been weed eating on the bank across from the driveway of his property and, when he returned, he saw trees leaning against the power lines so called the authorities – a claim disputed by other neighbours who heard him cutting down the tree.
Davison said he was satisfied Collins ‘‘breached the duty of care he owed to the owners of nearby properties in that he did not take sufficient safety precautions to ensure that any falling trees did not strike nearby power lines’’.
‘‘Further, I am satisfied that the defendant’s breach caused the plaintiffs’ loss in that it started a fire which spread to the neighbouring properties.’’
Davison ordered Collins to pay K Trust Company Ltd and L Trust Company Ltd $320,503 for destroying their holiday home, Kenneth Prain $39,504 for damages to his belongings and Graeme Carter and Marilyn Carter $141,708 for their burnt outbuildings, including a sleepout and utility shed, a water tank, and fencing.
At the time, Collins also admitted one charge of cultivating cannabis, one of possessing cannabis and one of possessing utensils for the consumption of cannabis in Blenheim District Court after a small cannabis plant was found the day after the fire. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community work and six months of supervision.