'Higher priority than lives': Triple fatal fuels anger over tree policy
In the wake of a tragic crash on the weekend a Melbourne council has been accused of putting trees before people after refusing to remove street-side eucalypts residents fear are dangerous.
Yarra Ranges Council will hold urgent discussions at its meeting this week after three people were killed when a falling tree hit their car in Kallista, east of Melbourne, on Sunday.
A woman in her 30s and a child, believed to be a boy, remained in hospital on Monday. Two men and a woman died at the scene. Their identities and the relationships to each other are still not known.
Three people are dead following a single vehicle car crash in Kallista this afternoon. Credit:Nine
The accident occurred on Sherbrooke Road in Kallista, the same area where a father and son were killed after a large gum struck their car during strong winds in July last year.
Yarra Ranges mayor Richard Higgins said the council was working with other authorities to determine exactly what had happened.
"We understand the tree involved has fallen from the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which is managed by Parks Victoria."
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy said Sunday's accident was a complete tragedy.
"It’s really sad," she said. "They’ve been driving along and done nothing to cause the collision ... it’s just one of those awful things."
Whatever the council decides to do about falling trees in the area, some residents say the action has come too late.
People who live on The Ridge in Lilydale have been lobbying Yarra Ranges for months to remove 40 large gum trees they say are a danger to residents.
Rupert Johnston, who has lived on The Ridge for 18 years, said the council had agreed to remove nine trees but it wasn't enough.
Neighbours Rupert Johnston and Antonio Di Martino are angry at Yarra Ranges Council for refusing to chop down street trees.Credit:Jason South
The towering trees, some up to 12 metres high, took up most of the nature strip and Mr Johnston claimed that one tree assessed as safe by council officers dropped a branch that hit a neighbour's letterbox the next day.
"There is a feeling among residents on our street that trees have a higher priority in Yarra Ranges than human lives," he said.
Yarra Ranges Shire deputy mayor Len Cox said on Sunday tree management was an ongoing challenge for the council.
"We have over five million street trees within our council and a team of five or six arborists who are always very busy," Cr Cox said.
But he said "it's impossible to tell what tree is going to do what at a particular time".
Mr Johnston said if the council were responsible for that many trees, they needed to employ the resources to manage them.
"Simple as that," he said.
Melbourne University arborist Greg Moore said it was not clear what had caused the falling tree believed to be responsible for the Kallista tragedy.
But he said climate change might be contributing to a higher incidence of falling trees.
Tree incidents in recent months
The past few months have seen a rash of injuries caused by falling trees and branches across Victoria.
Soil can be loosened under the roots pf trees when torrential rain follows dry months. Climate change also caused increased incidences of extreme wind, he said.
“One-in-five year events are becoming annual and one-in-30 year events are becoming one-in-every-decade events,” Mr Moore said.
“You’ve had trees that have withstood storm events in the past but under the climate change scenario, particularly for Victoria, we’re more likely to have more strong wind events and heavier rain events than we’ve had.”
A 2019 study showed the likelihood of being killed by a falling tree was one in 5.4 million.
“The majority of trees don’t fall,” Mr Moore said. “If you take down a tree and that tree is providing protection to other trees, that can be dangerous.”
With Tate Papworth and Paul Sakkal