On January 27, 2020, a fire broke out in the Orroral Valley in the Canberra region of Australia's capital.
The bushfire burned uncontrollably for 12 days before it was brought under control, and finally a month later, on February 27, it was completely extinguished.
During this period, fires destroyed 80% of Namadgi National Park (about 82,700 hectares), 22% of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (1,444 hectares), and 3,350 hectares of rural land.
It was also the biggest fire Canberra has faced since 2003.
In order to extinguish the fire, the fire departments of Canberra, New South Wales and Queensland mobilized and brought the fire under control with the help of the Defence Force.
For Australia, this is a difficult time for the whole country.
But at the time, no one knew the source of this terrible fire ...
It was actually a soak of urine...
On Monday, two and a half years after the fire, the accidental arson case was heard by a Canberra court involving several soldiers from the Australian military.
On the day of the fire, they were flying in helicopters to scout nearby open spaces that could be used for helicopter parking for the fire brigade.
What does this group of soldiers have to do with the fire?
A recording was played in court, about 45 minutes before the fire, when the major in charge of piloting the helicopter questioned the crew on board,
"Shall we find a place to stop and go down to pee?"
Subsequently, they flew out of the reconnaissance range stipulated by the mission that day, landed in a remote clearing, and the group got off the helicopter and peed...
But within a minute, the soldiers who remained on the plane began to shout:
"Come back! Hurry! It's on fire, come back and turn off the searchlight! ”
The searchlight mentioned here is the lighting equipment loaded on the helicopter.
In order to illuminate the ground, the power of the searchlight is very large, so the temperature around the lamp is also very high.
According to the court, the temperature around the searchlight can reach 550 degrees Celsius, so after landing, the heat quickly ignites the weeds in the forest.
But the major told the court that he only knew the searchlight was hot and didn't know it could reach such high temperatures. And he had only been on the plane with the searchlight on, and he had no idea that he had to turn off the lights when he got off the plane.
(Traces of fire on the plane)
In this way, after stopping for less than a minute, the plane took off again, leaving only a thick field of smoke... And a few bubbles of urine...
The group on the plane was also frightened, they decided to return to Canberra airport and sent a "pan-pan" call to the command center, indicating that the situation was urgent but did not pose a direct threat to life.
During the 17 minutes of the return journey, the soldiers on the plane communicated with the command center, but they all very tacitly did not mention the fact that they had caused the fire and the location of the fire.
Because it was not put out in the first place, the fire became bigger and bigger, and it was too late for residents to find the fire.
The prosecutor asked the major, why was the fire not notified?
The major said he was more worried about the safety of people in the helicopter than the fire.
"I've been worried about whether the helicopter is catching fire or damaged, and whether there will be an accident when landing, which is a life-or-death moment!"
By 6 p.m., the fire was completely out of control, and more than 1,000 hectares of land were on fire, and after that, the fire burned for one month...
After the fire broke out, because the incident was so humiliating, the Australian military suppressed it privately, and it is only today that the results of the investigation have been made public.
In court, prosecutors said they were not trying to condemn anyone or undermine the military's relationship with other institutions, but simply to figure out the cause of the fire, learn from the failure and strengthen everyone's safety in the future.
In the end, the matter was exposed.
According to the original plan, the case will be closed on Friday.
However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the judge was unable to attend, so the trial of the case was also postponed to 2023.
But I believe that no matter what, the military will also give an explanation to the Australians this time ...