A class action lawsuit has been launched for victims of the 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfire in the Adelaide Hills.

The blaze in December 2019 was caused by a tree falling on power lines, destroying dozens of homes and leaving one person dead,  

Victorian law firm Maddens Lawyers seeking $150 million in compensation for up to 1,000 victims of the blaze. 

Lawyers claim the fire was caused by SA Power Networks' inadequate fault protection settings. 

They will also argue that the energy distributor knew it was a catastrophic fire danger day, “and yet we see in the Office of the Technical Regulator's report that the fault mechanisms were adjusted to normal settings”, lawyers Brendan Pendergast has told reporters. 

“Quite alarmingly the auto-reclose device operated twice so it de-energised the line and then re-energised it after the tree fell on the line and brought it down to the ground,” he said.

“One person tragically lost their life, more than 50 firefighters were injured and many of the citizens living up there had suffered psychological or psychiatric injury as a result of the trauma of the bushfire experience.

“So we're seeking to recover compensation for those aspects of the fire as well.”

The report by the Office of the Technical Regulator late last year said it “could not identify any indicators that could have enabled a reasonable person to identify this tree failure prior to the event”.

Mr Pendergast said experts will show that the tree was already “severely compromised” in the years leading up to the fire, and should have been classified “dead, dying or dangerous”.

SA Power Networks says it will defend its actions.

“An independent government report concluded the fire start was due to a tree falling from outside the vegetation clearance zone surrounding power lines, and that SAPN had acted in accord with its bushfire and vegetation management procedures and equipment settings,” a spokesperson said.