軍演引發澳大利亞大規模山火
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.據美國媒體10月24日報道，澳大利亞調查人員發現，上週在澳大利亞人口最多的州肆虐的最大一場山火是軍事演習引發的。
澳消防部門10月23日稱，在上週的一百多場大火中，一處火頭出現在國防部的訓練區，是“實戰軍械演習”的結果。這場火災發生在悉尼以西的利斯戈（Lithgow）附近，大火蔓延4.7萬公頃。
軍演意外引發山火
澳大利亞消防官員長沙恩·菲茨西蒙斯（Shane Fitzsimmons）認爲，國防部的行動明顯是一次意外。
“這不是有意爲之；而是常規活動引發的意外後果，這樣的情況難免發生，很明顯，沒人想到會引起火災，”菲茨西蒙斯說。“這其中不存在陰謀。”
代理國防部長喬治·布蘭迪斯（George Brandis）則在一份聲明中說，軍方一直與調查人員保持配合。
警報已消除
上週在新南威爾士州發生的多場火災已經導致至少一人死亡，兩百多處居民住宅被燒燬。至10月24日，雖然澳政府已經撤銷了所有緊急警報，但還有65處大火仍在燃燒，其中24處尚未得到控制。
此外據官員稱，10月24日早上，一架協助滅火的直升機在悉尼南部的阿勒達拉（Ulladulla）附近墜毀。消防部門還沒有得知是否有人受傷等方面的細節，目前救援人員正趕往現場。
