Namadgi fires: Questions over helicopter mission which sparked horror blaze

In the wake of revelations the crew manning the army helicopter took 45 minutes to alert the ACT Emergency Services Agency to the location of the blaze after it ignited, The Canberra Times can reveal at least one official inside the agency's incident management team had concerns about the military's presence in Namadgi on January 27.

The new information came as former ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope, who was at the helm during Canberra's horror 2003 bushfire, said it was deeply unfair to criticise the helicopter crew's handling of the incident.

Mr Stanhope said military personnel weren't trained firefighters, and if the ACT government wanted to avoid a repeat situation it should invest in more specialist helicopters.

But former ACT emergency services minister Simon Corbell described the revelations as appalling, telling ABC radio on Tuesday that he struggled to understand how the crew couldn't have passed on the crucial details earlier.

The circumstances surrounding the ignition of the fire which would eventually burn through 80 per cent of Namadgi National Park have come under renewed scrutiny this week, following the release of internal Defence reports on the incident.

The report confirmed the helicopter's landing light sparked a fire inside Namadgi around 1.30pm on January 27.

But it wasn't until the helicopter had made an emergency landing at 2.15pm - 45 minutes later - that the crew passed on details of the fire's location to the Emergency Services Agency.

Defence has defended the crew's response, saying its priority at the time was to return safely to Canberra Airport after the helicopter was damaged in the fire.

While ACT authorities have said they are satisfied with the crew's handling of the incident, the report has prompted fresh questions about the military's role in the ACT response - in particular the helicopter mission on January 27.

In a confidential submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly's recent probe into the summer fire season, seen by The Canberra Times, an experienced official questioned the motivation behind the mission.

The military had been parachuted in to support ACT authorities in early January, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison scrambled to respond to the bushfire emergencies engulfing large parts of south-eastern Australia.

The MRH-90 Taipan helicopter which ignited the blaze had been sent deep inside Namadgi to identify locations where it would be safe to drop off and collect remote firefighting teams.

"Was this a case of using a resource simply because it was there to showcase to the public how the ESA was effectively utilising the military resources it had engaged?" the senior official, who asked not to be named, wrote in the submission.

"Was it necessary to undertake that assignment on a severe fire danger day?"

An Emergency Service Agency spokeswoman confirmed it had tasked Defence with the reconnaissance mission on January 27.

The spokeswoman said the mission had been "critical" in supporting the incident management team and ACT Rural Fire Service with their preparation, especially given the fire danger conditions that were being experienced at the time.

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She said the independent review of Canberra's summer emergency had found the use of aircraft had helped firefighting efforts on a number of fronts, including transporting crews to remote areas.

There are no restrictions on flying when a total fire ban has been declared, and multiple aircraft completed similar tasks in similar conditions, she said.

"The bushfire season was unprecedented in severity and the Emergency Services Agency worked closely with Defence, national bodies and our interstate colleagues to ensure the ACT was prepared," she said.

The arguments in the confidential submission are not the first time the military's involvement in Canberra's fire season has been questioned by those directly involved in the response.

In comments leaked to the media, rural fire service staff told workshops held as part of the independent review process that Defence personnel were "difficult to work with" and "did not help".

The consultant's final report presented a different view, concluding that the two teams worked effectively and that Defence was able to meet all of the agency's requests in a "timely way".

The army helped with a range of task during the fire season, including establishment of fire breaks and containment lines and door knocking homes in Canberra's southern outskirts.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Emergency Services Minister Mick Gentleman have not commented on this week's revelation about Defence's delay in alerting ACT authorities to the Orroral Valley fire's location.

But former senior territory politicians have weighed in, including Mr Stanhope - who was chief minister during the bushfire which killed four people and destroyed 487 homes in January 2003.

Mr Stanhope was forced to defend his handling of the 2003 crisis after he was singled out for heavy criticism in an ACT coroner's review.

Mr Stanhope, who is a vocal critic of the Barr government, said the helicopter crew should not be blamed for the Orroral Valley disaster.

"It is something that concerns me regularly in relation to our response to natural disasters. We have this need to find someone to hold responsible, that it must be somebody's fault," he said.

"This was a professional, brave crew of Defence force personnel who joined the ADF - they didn't join the fire service. It disappoints me enormously that people are now pointing the finger at them, blaming them, holding them responsible.

"They did their best in a dire situation."

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