Aerial view of Valley Span and surrounds.
WEEPING people fled the courtroom today as emotional amateur footage was played depicting the moment a deadly Black Saturday "fire tornado", which killed more than 100 people, approached St Andrews homes.
The lead plaintiff in the class action for compensation, Carol Matthews, cried through the four-and-a-half-minute video, shot only kilometres from the St Andrews home in which her 22-year-old son, Sam, died on February 7, 2009.
Robert Richter, QC, for Mrs Matthews, told the court the "entirely preventable" Kilmore East-King Lake fire was sparked due to the negligence of energy provider SPI Electricity.
"They did none of the things they should have done to prevent this old line from collapsing on Black Saturday and sparking the inferno that it did," Mr Richter told a packed courtroom.
The fire killed 119 people, destroyed 1200 homes and caused an estimated $1 billion damage.
The court heard Sam Matthews, trained to fight fires by the CFA, told his mother on the phone as the inferno approached that a tree near the family home had just exploded.
Annotated view of pole-top assembly.
Mr Richter said she directed him to go to the bathroom and heard the windows explode. He said phone records show she unsuccessfully tried to call her son 15 more times, but he had died when the house burned down.
Mrs Matthews claims she has suffered significant psychological injuries as a result.
She represents more than 10,000 group members – including Darrin Gibson, who lost his partner, their two young daughters, three-year-old son, and parts of both his feet, which melted as he tried to save him family.
Mrs Matthews is also suing maintenance contractor Utility Services Corporation Limited, alleging it was negligent in its inspection and maintenance of the powerline, and the Department of Sustainability and Environment for allegedly failing to reduce fuel loads.
The DSE, CFA and Victoria Police are also facing allegations they failed to give appropriate warnings about the bushfire.
Carol Matthews was among those to address the people at the Black Saturday memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne.
Mrs Matthews had alleged the CFA was negligent in failing to suppress the fire, but the claim was settled.
All the defendants deny the allegations and are fighting the claims.
In two separate recovery proceedings, the state government entities are claiming compensation for damage to government property from SPI and USC.
The Transport Accident Commission and the Victorian Workcover Authority are also claiming indemnity from payments made as a result of the bushfire from the power companies.
Justice Jack Forrest said he complied with the parties' requests to not read any report or documentation from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, so "the trial starts on a blank canvas".
The total number of group members in the proceeding is estimated to be 10,450, of whom at least 1,100 bring personal injury claims, 5,950 bring property damage claims and 3,400 bring property damage and personal injury claims.
The Black Saturday bushfires claimed 173 lives.
Affected people have until March 22 to register to join the group.
The Victorian government funded a purpose-built courtroom to accommodate the teams of barristers, dozens of expert witnesses and large numbers of people interested in attending the trial.
The thousands involved directly in the class action can watch the proceedings streamed live on the internet.
The trial is expected to run for nine months, but if liability is established, there could be years of further hearings on sub-issues of liability and damages.
Opening submissions began today and will last for one week.
The Black Saturday bushfires in February 2009 killed 173 people.
Four cases brought in relation to the other fires have settled.
