Cutting down single rotten tree ‘would have saved 194 homes’ in 2013 Blue Mountains bushfire

A BUSHFIRE that ripped through the Blue Mountains and destroyed nearly 200 homes could have been avoided if Endeavour Energy had chopped down a single rotting tree, a court has heard.

Nobody was killed in the fire but .

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RESIDENTS caught in the path of the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires suffered a terrifying ordeal that could have been avoided if a power company had cut down a single tree, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.

A $200 million class action lawsuit against Endeavour Energy began in Sydney today with claims that a massive blaze that burned through the lower-mountains suburbs of Springwood and Winmalee in October 2013 was sparked by a decaying tree falling onto an electricity conductor at Linksview Road in Springwood.

This home on Paulwood Avenue in Winmalee was completely destroyed in the fire.

Another of the nearly 200 homes that were wiped out, with hundreds more damaged.

Barrister Tim Tobin SC has told the court that if a single rotten tree had been removed the fire could have been avoided.

“This tree was compromised by dry rot which, if Endeavour Energy had adopted reasonable practices, it would have been aware of and would have attended to,” barrister Tim Tobin SC told the court in his opening address.

No lives were lost in the massive blaze but 194 homes were destroyed and hundreds more damaged.

The class action has been brought by Sean Johnston and other Blue Mountains residents who allege they lost property or suffered physical or psychiatric injury as a result of Endeavour Energy’s inaction in the hot and dry months that preceded the outbreak of wildfire.

“Flames were as high as 20 metres and travelling at frightening speed, destroying 194 homes and partially damaging hundreds more,” Mr Tobin said on Wednesday.

“For members of the group who were caught in the path of the fire, the experience was life-threatening and terrifying.”

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The fire was fanned by 100km/h winds as temperatures sat in the low-mid 30s.

Nobody was killed in the fire but .

The $200 million class action in the Supreme Court is expected to last 50 days.

Mr Tobin told the court the bushland region west of Sydney was in “a state of high vulnerability to ignition and spread of bushfire” in the lead up to October 17.

That day, he said, Springwood woman Marilyn Stubbs arrived home from the shops about 1pm and noticed “nothing unusual”.

Fires were already burning higher up the mountains and to the west, and there was smoke in the sky as Mrs Stubbs went to her bedroom and began reading a magazine.

But by 1.09pm, Mrs Stubbs was dialling triple-0.

She will give evidence over the two-month civil case that she heard “a twang followed by a ‘zzz’, a sound consistent with an electrical noise”, followed by a “crackling” sound.

When she went to investigate, Mrs Stubbs saw a “slow, creeping” fire through her window and within moments, she saw trees beginning to explode into flames.

“This explosion of trees sent embers flying and looked like fireworks,” Mr Tobin said.

The hearing continues before Justice Peter Garling.

Prince Frederik and Princess Mary inspect homes lost in bush fire. Picture: Stephen Cooper

The devastation from the air.