Bushfire findings 'no comfort' to victims

A NSW cattle breeder whose family suffered devastating financial losses in the 2013 Coonabarabran bushfire says he hopes a coroner's report will help prevent a repeat of the firestorm.

Deputy NSW State Coroner Hugh Dillon on Monday handed down his recommendations following a two-year inquest into the "catastrophic" blaze, which broke out at the Wambelong camp ground in the Warrumbungle National Park on January 12, 2013, and ultimately engulfed more than 56,000 hectares of land.

The blaze destroyed 53 homes and killed countless livestock and native animals, and burned others so severely they had to be put down.

Stephen Lill, whose family runs a stud farm near the central west NSW site where the inferno erupted, suffered a huge financial loss and the heartbreak of having 200 cattle and calves die in the blaze.

"I'm doomed for life. I've got a $2 million hole that I can never fill up in my time left on earth," the 71-year-old told reporters outside Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney.

Mr Lill was deeply critical of National Parks and Wildlife Service's efforts to extinguish the fire in its crucial first hours.

"Hopefully this will bring about a culture of change in the National Park Service so that they can actually put out small fires," he told reporters.

"This fire was one that should never have ever happened.

"We've had bigger fires at our place and put them out with half a dozen people, so I'm very critical of those first 24 hours of this fire which has caused us so much loss."

Mr Dillon has directed more than 20 recommendations to NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott and Environment Minister Mark Speakman, including changes to the way agencies assess and prepare for potential bushfires.

He said the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) should change the way it classifies bushfires to reflect potential danger rather than observed fire behaviour.

He also recommended that the Rural Fire Service (RFS) consider using weather balloons, perhaps in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology, to help assess fire conditions.

He wants the NPWS to review how it handles hazard reduction burns and to be more proactive when fire danger conditions are severe or worse.

Mr Dillon told the farmers and residents who travelled to Sydney for the findings that he knew it would be "little or no comfort", but that the lessons learned from the devastating Wambelong fire could help save lives and homes in future.

He was unable to determine the cause of the fire but said it may have been deliberately lit.

"If human intervention was involved, it may have been accidental, such as failing to extinguish a cigarette butt, or deliberate," he said.

He made no recommendations on whether landowners deserved compensation - and if so, who should pay.

Mr Lill said he hoped a separate state government inquiry would address that question.

"It's put an unbelievable strain on the people of Coonabarabran. Unfortunately we didn't hear the negligence word mentioned there in court."