The Kilmore East-Kinglake bushfire killed 119 people, caused 232 casualties and destroyed 1242 homes. The land area burned was 125,383ha. However, Impacts such as air and water pollution were much more widespread — and long-term — than the land area burnt.
FoE Australia (Delbridge and Walker 2014: 23) list a series of losses, including: around one-third of the water catchments for Melbourne (Victoria’s capital city) were burnt; CO2 emissions from fires on public land during January–February 2009 are estimated by the relevant state agency (Department of Sustainability and Environment) to amount to more than 8.5mn tonnes; the state agency VicForests estimated 10,000ha forest was burnt, including ecologically and commercially valuable Mountain Ash; amongst other efforts, approximately 14,740 volunteer-days were spent repairing often uninsured fencing; more than 1mn animals died, including iconic kangaroos and almost 12,000 stock; 220 tonnes of trout (in farms) were lost.
Fighting the fire were: the Country Fire Authority (938 staff and 92 appliances); the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (32 staff and 9 appliances); the Networked Emergency Organisation (107 staff and 11 aircraft) and numbers of residents and supporters.
The Victorian Supreme Court constructed a courtroom to hear the electronically run class action, which took more than 200 sitting days (16 months). Blackburn (2014) listed the extent of proceedings as including:
• 26 pre-trial directions hearings;
• 34 pre-trial applications;
• 60 court rulings made;
• evidence heard from 40 expert and 60 lay witnesses;
• 22,466 documents loaded on to the electronic courtbook;
• 10,364 documents tendered; and
• in excess of 20,300 pages of transcript.
Justice Osborn (Supreme Court of Victoria) formally approved the settlement deed agreed by parties to the Kilmore East Class Action (15 July 2014) on 23 December 2014. Without admitting liability, the parties paid approximately A$494.7mn: AusNet Services (A$378.6mn through their liability insurers); Victorian State Parties (because they neither conducted adequate cool burning of vegetation in the area nor provided sufficient warning of the impending fire — A$103.6mn, also through insurers); and the asset manger, Utility Services Corporation Ltd (A$12.5m). SP AusNet (2014) estimated their payout at ‘between 22% and 35% of the total losses suffered and costs incurred by those affected by the Kilmore East Bushfire’.
Given the disbursement was expected to take 18 months interest fees would increase the final pay out (i.e. minus legal and associated costs) to victims of over $430,000 (Whealing, The Age 2014).
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