By Andrea Petrie
A FORMER volunteer firefighter accused of starting the fatal blaze at Churchill in the Latrobe Valley on Black Saturday told police he had accidentally started the inferno by discarding cigarette ash out his car window, a jury has heard.
Ten people died and 156 homes were destroyed when a fire broke out at two ignition points in a blue gum plantation at the intersection of Glendonald Road and Jelleffs Outlet about 1.30pm on February 7, 2009.
Picture of Glendonald Road used as evidence in Brendan Sokaluk's trial.
Victoria's Supreme Court heard yesterday that temperatures on the total fire ban day reached 46.3 degrees and were accompanied by strong winds of up to 70 kilometres an hour and low humidity.
Brendan James Sokaluk, 42, of Churchill, has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of arson causing death and two alternative charges of recklessly or intentionally causing a bushfire.
This is despite Sokaluk telling police ''I done it accidentally'' when they quizzed him five days after the fire broke out about his involvement.
Prosecutor Ray Elston, SC, told the court Sokaluk's broken down car was found 1.6 kilometres from the fire's ignition points and he had given varying stories as to why he was in the area at the time the fire started.
A Triple-0 emergency call he made at 1.32pm was also played to the jury in which Sokaluk tells the operator the fire was rapidly ''getting bigger''.
The court heard Sokaluk, a former CFA volunteer in 1987-1988, told police during his interview: ''I was smoking, and had a burnt bit fell off to the floor, so I used a bit of paper to pick it up. I didn't properly so I squished it out sort of thing, and when I threw the paper on the road it ignited. I didn't know, it was too late.''
He added: ''I did a bad thing and I'm scared… shit scared''.
He also told police he was upset about the fire ''because my stupid actions caused it''.
The jury heard in addition to returning to Glendonald Road after he and his dog had been evacuated, Sokaluk also sent an anonymous email to Crime Stoppers, reporting to have seen a fire fighter in a four-wheel drive lighting fires in the area on the day. He later admitted he had ''made it up'' to deflect suspicion from himself.
But Sokaluk's barrister, Jane Dixon, SC, told the jury her client had autism and therefore was an ''easy target'' to blame for the fire and its tragic consequences. ''So easy that he even managed to make himself believe that something he did must have caused the fire in Glendonald Road,'' she said.
''Now, perhaps, Brendan Sokaluk's presence in Glendonald Road did cause a fire to ignite there. Perhaps not.''
Ms Dixon said defence witnesses would give evidence there were no signs of deliberate arson in the Churchill fire, as was often the case in bushfires.
She said an expert would tell the court that analysis by Crown investigators was ''deficient'' and that there were numerous possible causes for the blaze.
The fire took authorities 12 days to bring under control, at which point more than 36,000 hectares had been burnt.
Those killed were in the townships of Callignee, Coongulla and Hazelwood South.
The trial continues before Justice Paul Coghlan.