WA Parkerville bushfire class action to go to trial

WA Parkerville bushfire class action to go to trial

27 June 2017

Australia – A class action over a fire that destroyed 57 homes in the Perth hills is set to go to trial after mediation attempts failed.

The massive blaze in Parkerville started when a rotten and termite-ridden private power pole fell over in January 2014.

The fire destroyed 57 homes and damaged dozens more.

Residents commenced legal action against the state government and the elderly resident whose power pole fell over, after an EnergySafety report found Western Power contractors had inspected the rotten pole twice since July 2013.

“On 19 July 2013, six months prior to the fire, contractors engaged by Western Power Thiess Services Pty Ltd conducted works on the rotten pole, and inspected it, but did not detect that it was extensively damaged by termites and fungal rot,” Slater and Gordon lawyer Kevin Banks-Smith said at the time.

“Our clients allege Western Power had a responsibility to ensure that it had adequate systems for the inspection, maintenance and replacement of wooden poles in its electricity network.”
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Western Power, however, said when legal action first commenced in 2015 that it had adequate systems of inspection and maintenance in place and that the pole that caused the blaze was privately owned and not part of their network.

The matter will return to the Supreme Court on Friday during which Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing victims, will ask for a trial date.
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The legal firm has previously represented residents in Margaret River class action against the state government after catastrophic fires sparked by a prescribed burn destroyed 39 homes in 2011.

Tropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-peatlands-dwindling-losses.html#jCpTropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

27. June 2017/by GFMCadmin