Firefighters' death inquest

Interested parties have had almost four months to prepare further material to put before coroner John Olle.

Seven days of evidence dealing with the deaths of Katie Peters, 19, and Steven Kadar, 34, were held in Wodonga last August.

Mr Olle then took evidence from several more witnesses in Melbourne in October, before rounding off public hearings with a single day in Melbourne on March 31.

A spokeswoman said Mr Olle had not yet begun considering this evidence.

“The coroner requested submissions from interested parties following the last day of the inquest,” she said.

“Submissions are due now. The coroner will review these submissions before he will prepare the finding.”

It is not known when the finding will be available, though it is expected to be later this year.

The firefighters died when a 30-metre alpine ash tree crashed onto their Toyota LandCruiser “slip-on” on the afternoon of February 13, 2013.

Mr Olle was unable to conclude proceedings in Melbourne last October and start considering evidence to prepare his finding.

That was because he still needed to hear from one more witness.

That witness had moved to Canada before the inquest began in Wodonga on August 11.

Mr Olle pointed out at the time that the woman’s evidence was probably crucial given she worked in weather forecasting.

He heard evidence in Wodonga of how some crews on the fire ground were greatly concerned about approaching storms on the afternoon of the 13th.

That was countered by their supervisors, who believed there was enough time for crews to evacuate the fire ground safely.

Briefing notes in the hands of supervisors had included a weather forecast on the 12th that predicted storms the following afternoon.

But this was not included in the same report the next morning.