The clean up has begun for the more than 2400 houses destroyed by NSW's worst bushfire season in living memory.
It has been almost three months to the day since Peter Hassell fled his cottage at Rainbow Flat on the NSW mid north coast, as the Hillville fire roared through the surrounding bushland, picking off unlucky homes while leaving neighbouring properties untouched.
For months, sheets of buckled corrugated iron have lain strewn across his property in a toxic rubble. Deputy Premier John Barilaro, the minister responsible for disaster recovery, said Laing O’Rourke and their subcontractors would clear around 40 destroyed properties at Rainbow Flat in the coming days.
He acknowledged the slow start to the clean up process for north coast residents, many of whom have been living in temporary accommodation for months, after emergency services were forced to redirect their focus to the south coast bushfires which began on New Year’s Eve. Peter Hassell at the site of his home that was destroyed by fire in November with Deputy Premier John Barilaro.The NSW and federal government will jointly foot the bill for the clean up process, which is expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
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