Law firm Slater & Gordon is investigating a potential class action on behalf of residents and property owners affected by the Tathra bushfires, after a preliminary investigation found electrical infrastructure was a likely cause.

Practice Group Leader Rory Walsh says the firm will examine whether power distribution company Essential Energy adhered to inspection and maintenance requirements, and what could have been done to prevent the fire earlier this month.

A NSW Rural Fire Service preliminary investigation has found electrical infrastructure on Reedy Swamp Road was the likely cause.

Details have been provided to police and there will be a formal report from the coroner.

Mr Walsh says the adequacy of power pole inspections had been a central issue in many of the law firm’s other bushfire cases, and in the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

“This type of litigation tends to be fiercely contested by electrical infrastructure providers, but we have extensive experience and are well equipped to take on this legal battle for Tathra,” he said.

The Government has appointed former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty to lead a review of the fires, centring on fire services’ call-taking and dispatch arrangements.