Hundreds join Dunalley bushfire class action over cause of blaze

Hundreds of people have joined a class action against two people they say were responsible for a bushfire that destroyed 193 Tasmanian homes in 2013.

Nearly 200 homes in Dunalley and surrounding areas were destroyed by a bushfire in 2013.

MORE than 400 people have joined a class action against two people they say were responsible for a bushfire that destroyed 193 homes in Dunalley and surrounding areas.

In a statement of claim filed with the Supreme Court in Hobart this month, the plaintiffs argue a man and a woman were responsible for a campfire in a tree stump on their Forcett property that was lit on December 28, 2012 and not properly extinguished.

The plaintiffs argue that between December 28 and January 3, 2013, the fire continued in the tree stump and in its roots, as a smouldering burn.

They argue the woman saw steam coming from the tree stump on the morning of January 1 but “did not … take any adequate step to investigate, extinguish or attempt to extinguish the smouldering burn within the tree stump and its root system”.

“At around 2pm on 3 January 2013, the smouldering burn in the tree stump and its root system ignited grass on the surface of the ground in the immediate area around the tree stump,” the statement reads.

“The grass fire … spread east across the property to a bushland area on its eastern boundary, then escaped the property and became a bushfire.”

The Forcett bushfire burnt for 14 days.

The plaintiffs argue the woman lit or observed fires lit in the tree stump on previous occasions that had “proven difficult to extinguish”.

On January 3 a total fire ban was declared due to hot, windy conditions and the Tasmania Fire Service rated the fire danger that day as very high to severe.

The class action, which is expected to come before the court in March, has been joined by 445 people.

The defendants have each filed a defence but those documents are not available to be viewed from the court.