9 News: The (2020 Orroral Valley) bushfire was started by a searchlight on an MRH-90 Taipan army helicopter in the Namadgi National Park, just outside Canberra.

The helicopter was assisting bushfire prevention efforts in the ACT .. and was looking for remote helipads. The chopper's crew had landed for a toilet break when they inadvertently started the bushfire with their hot searchlight.

The Orroral Valley bushfire destroyed 80 per cent of Namadgi National Park and tore through more than one-third of the ACT, finally being extinguished after burning for more than five weeks.

At the centre of the inquiry was why it took those aboard 45 minutes to contact the ACT Emergency Services Agency that a fire had broken out in the area.

An onboard recording heard one of the helicopter's passengers yell "come up, come up, we've started a fire, turn the searchlight off".

Whoops. So having started the fire, what did our gov-employees do about it?

The helicopter only stopped for about one minute before returning to Canberra airport but neither the pilots nor passengers contacted emergency services to let them know they had started a fire, which one pilot estimated was already "200m by 200m" when they evacuated.

So yet another case of the govt experts fucking-up, then trying to cover it up.

The ACT government had questioned the need for an inquiry into the fire and in response to previous media reporting of the cause, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he was not interested in a "witch hunt or a blame game".

No, their only interest is in covering it up. Which they've largely succeeded in doing. We're already over 3 years since the fire & all it gets is a small article buried deep in the daily news. I accept that they fucked-up, that's one thing, but then not reporting it, which consequently allowed it to grow into a massive bushfire - that's criminal.

It's a great example of how govt investigations are weaponized to do the opposite of what they're supposed to do. Delay, delay, delay, delay, until it's not longer in the news (thank God for Covid!), then do a low-key enquiry with highly paid lawyers & bureaucrats ... then don't hold anyone responsible!