Fire victims suing for $10m

Residents who lost houses and property in the Port Hills fires want $10 million for alleged negligence by Orion New Zealand and the Adventure Park.

Statements of claim lodged by a group of 80 claimants affected by fires that raged over 1600ha of the Port Hills, Christchurch, during three days in February 2017, were released by the High Court yesterday.

The claimants are suing under the Forest and Rural Fires Act which allows recovery of losses from those responsible for fires and under the law of negligence. The Adventure Park and Orion should have realised its actions would cause the fires to start or spread, the document claims. Orion denies negligence and refutes the allegation that a maintenance failure contributed to the fires.

Insurance company IAG is coordinating the court action on behalf of insurers for all the claimants who are understood to have been paid out.

The first major fire started in Early Valley Rd in Lansdowne near Halswell on February 13 and a second started on the Summit Rd near the Sign of the Kiwi the same day.

The claimants are suing Orion New Zealand Ltd and Leisure Investments NZ Ltd Partnership (operator of Adventure Park) for $3.8m and $6.2m respectively.

The statements of claim contend the Adventure Park was asked to stop the lift as fires were burning out of control and were developing in the upper reaches of the lift area.

‘‘Despite [that] and requests from the fire authorities to cease its use, Leisure Investments operated its chair lift first . . . down the hill . . . second reversing the chair lift and … thirdly reversing the lift again,’’ the statement said.

On the afternoon of February 15, (the third day of the fires) the chairs on the lift caught fire and

immediately caused spot fires in pine slash along the line of the lift as molten debris fell.

The outbreak took the Summit Rd fire out of a containment area set up by fire authorities and spread to destroy properties on Worsleys Rd and the surrounding area.

The statement of claim against Orion said the start of the Early Valley Rd fire could be traced back to a fuse on a pole (Pole 728) owned by the power company on the southern boundary of the road.

Two of the lines had touched or been connected by a fallen branch causing an ‘‘arc event’’ to melt stainless steel wire and a tin carrier.

Molten particles from the tin and steel then exploded onto the ground igniting a fire that would eventually merge with the Summit Rd fire.

The claimants alleged Orion had failed to maintain its fuses to prevent the expulsion of residue and failed to keep vegetation away from power lines.

Orion, in its statement of defence, said the fire in Early Valley Rd has started four minutes before the time asserted by the claimants. It denied being negligent or that its fuse caused the fires to start.

It accepted a ‘‘drop-out’’ in power had occurred at 5.39pm on February 13 but it had not been explosive.

Heat and flames from a fire underneath Pole 728 had caused an ‘‘arcing event’’, not the other way round.

The lines could not have blown together and no evidence existed a branch had fallen across the lines.

‘‘The lines in Early Valley Rd were properly strung and there was no scope for two to be blown together even if there was sufficient wind to do so (which there was not).’’

The Adventure Park’s statement of defence was not available.

The park has been approached for comment.