Fire officials defended Australia's defense department on Thursday after investigators revealed a military training exercise ignited the largest of the wildfires that have torn across the nation's most populous state over the past week.
The Rural Fire Service said Wednesday that one of the more than 100 fires that have burned since last week began at a Defense Department training area as a result of "live ordnance exercises." The fire it sparked near the city of Lithgow, west of Sydney, has burned 47,000 hectares (180 square miles) and destroyed several houses, but no injuries or deaths were reported in the blaze.
In a statement, Acting Defense Minister George Brandis said the military was cooperating with investigators.
Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the defense department's actions were obviously an accident.
"It wasn't deliberate; it was a side effect of a routine activity, it would appear, and clearly there was no intention to see fire start up and run as a result of that activity," Fitzsimmons said. "There is no conspiracy here."
The fires have killed one man and destroyed more than 200 homes in New South Wales state over the past week. Sixty-five fires were still burning Thursday, with 24 out of control, though all emergency warnings had been lifted.
Meanwhile, officials said an aircraft helping fight a fire near Ulladulla, south of Sydney, crashed Thursday morning. The fire service said it had no details, including whether anyone was injured, and that rescue crews were headed to the scene.
The major wildfire threat had passed Thursday, as cooler temperatures and calm winds prevailed and hundreds of residents returned to homes they had evacuated earlier.
据美国媒体10月24日报道，澳大利亚调查人员发现，上周在澳大利亚人口最多的州肆虐的最大一场山火是军事演习引发的。
澳消防部门10月23日称，在上周的一百多场大火中，一处火头出现在国防部的训练区，是“实战军械演习”的结果。这场火灾发生在悉尼以西的利斯戈（Lithgow）附近，大火蔓延4.7万公顷。
军演意外引发山火
澳大利亚消防官员长沙恩·菲茨西蒙斯（Shane Fitzsimmons）认为，国防部的行动明显是一次意外。
“这不是有意为之；而是常规活动引发的意外后果，这样的情况难免发生，很明显，没人想到会引起火灾，”菲茨西蒙斯说。“这其中不存在阴谋。”
代理国防部长乔治·布兰迪斯（George Brandis）则在一份声明中说，军方一直与调查人员保持配合。
警报已消除
上周在新南威尔士州发生的多场火灾已经导致至少一人死亡，两百多处居民住宅被烧毁。至10月24日，虽然澳政府已经撤销了所有紧急警报，但还有65处大火仍在燃烧，其中24处尚未得到控制。
此外据官员称，10月24日早上，一架协助灭火的直升机在悉尼南部的阿勒达拉（Ulladulla）附近坠毁。消防部门还没有得知是否有人受伤等方面的细节，目前救援人员正赶往现场。