Man who burned shoebox of tax records fined for resulting bushfire
A Tasmanian man has been fined for lighting a fire that destroyed two houses and burnt through 1,200 hectares of vegetation in the state's upper east coast.
Michael John Davis, 56, was found guilty in the Launceston Magistrates Court this week of lighting a fire on December 9 last year without taking reasonable precautions to prevent it from spreading.
He also pleaded guilty to a low-range drink-driving charge.
The bushfire at Stieglitz could be seen across the water from St Helens. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)
According to his lawyer, James Oxley, Davis could not appear in person as he lives in Indonesia, and so appeared via videolink.
The prosecution said on December 9, 2025, Mr Davis was at his parents' property burning a shoebox filled with tax records inside a fire pit while smoking cigarettes.
Davis sat with the fire until the box had burnt completely, then went inside to prepare lunch for his father, who was bedridden at the time.
The December 9 bushfire was captured by a NASA satellite. (Supplied: NASA/MODIS)
When he went back outside 30 minutes later, he discovered bushland on the northern boundary of the home, metres from where he burnt the receipts, was on fire.
Davis attempted to extinguish the fire with buckets of water and asked his mother to call the fire brigade when she returned home.
The fire had spread through bushland to the north, and as a result, two residences on St Helens Point Road were destroyed.
TasNetworks and Telstra infrastructure were also damaged as a result of the fire.
Mr Oxley said he confirmed with the Tasmania Fire Service that a total fire ban had not been issued on the day, and no fire permits were required in that area.
He said the total number of documents burnt had fit into a shoebox, and that the fire was not large.
"At its most intense it was about a foot high (30 centimetres) while the documents burned,"
Mr Oxley said.
"He did everything he could once he saw the fire had spread to put it out."
The bushfire sent plumes of smoke over St Helens. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Concerns over visa status
Mr Oxley asked Magistrate Simon Brown to consider Davis' visa status in his decision, and asked for Davis to be fined without a conviction, as that could hamper his chances at renewing his visa with the Indonesian government.
"That process will involve him producing his Tasmanian record to the Indonesian government," he said.
"His plan is to remain there with his wife for the foreseeable future, and in my submission there is a real risk that this could come back to haunt him in that application process."
Two houses were destroyed in the blaze at Stieglitz. (Supplied: John Sullivan)
However, Magistrate Brown said there had been "catastrophic consequences" as a result of Davis' negligence.
"In fairness, I don't think I'm minded to not convict," he said.
"I accept the defendant's degree of negligence. His moral culpability here is plainly at the lower end of the scale.
"Of course, lighting a fire outside in Tasmania in the summer months in December is something that should be done with real care.
"Whilst the defendant did watch the fire and believed it to be out, he took no steps to ensure it could go absolutely nowhere by wetting down or stamping on it."
Magistrate Brown convicted Davis and fined him $1,000 for the drink driving charge, as well as suspended his licence for six months.
He was fined $2,000 in relation to the fire, totalling $3,000.
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