Farmer Jack Kenna reckons Stevie Wonder could work out the fire that started at The Sisters on Saturday began at a rotten power pole on his property that snapped in high winds.
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Mr Kenna said he was heartened that Victoria Police arson squad investigators had said the Garvoc fire was caused after a power pole snapped and fell over in high winds.
The fire that started at The Sisters became part of a larger fire that spread to Garvoc and south-east to west of Laang.
Mr Kenna said he didn’t accept Powercor’s statement that the fire did not start from a rotten power pole.
He said the land to the north-west of the snapped power pole was not burnt and the land to south-east was.
“Stevie Wonder would have worked it (the start of the fire) out and he is blind,” Mr Kenna said.
“We did not have any lightning strikes until seven hours after the fire,” he said.
Mr Kenna said Powercor’s statement that the power pole on his farm had been checked in November and found to be in good condition was not pertinent.
A Powercor spokesman said it was working closely with Energy Safe Victoria and emergency service agencies that were conducting investigations into the cause of the fires.
But Mr Kenna said if Powercor was found to be at fault for the cause of the fire that started on his property, it should fix it.
“If I was in your car and pranged it, I would fix it,” he said.
“If this is their (Powercor’s) fault, they should fix it up,” Mr Kenna said.
He said fire-affected farmers already had enough to deal with without a dispute about how the fire started.
Dairy farmers in the area had been struggling with low milk prices and the fires had set them back further, he said.
Mr Kenna had about 40 hectares (100 acres) of his farm burnt out and lost about two kilometres of fencing but reckons he got off lightly.
He said his neighbours had fared much worse.
One neighbour, Brad Porter, lost more than 300 of his Jersey dairy herd to the fire that also razed about 300ha (750 acres) of his farm.
“He is worse off,” Mr Kenna said of his neighbour.
Further to the south-east, farmer Angus McGillivery lost his home, more than 900 of his sheep and had all his 202ha (500 acres) farm burnt out.
“The destruction is incredible,” Mr Kenna said.
