How did it happen? Could it have been avoided? Could it have been handled differently? More effectively?

Canberrans are entitled to ask these questions, and demand these answers, from the authorities responsible for responding to the Orroral Valley blaze.

They were entitled to ask while the fire still burned. They were entitled to ask them six months after it was extinguished. They are entitled to ask them today, almost 12 months on.

The scale of damage wrought by the fire in Namadgi National Park not only justifies the pursuit of truth and transparency, it frankly demands it.

Namadgi, so beloved by so many, deserves it.

In this context, Chief Minister Andrew Barr's condemnation of those asking questions about Defence's role in sparking the Orroral Valley blaze is out of line - and alarming.

Fronting reporters inside a Mitchell warehouse on Thursday morning, an exasperated Barr suggested that continued scrutiny would amount to a "witch hunt".

He warned against an "endless circular blame game" which, he stressed, would achieve nothing. All that mattered in the aftermath of the terrible, unfortunate accident was that lessons were learnt.

From listening to Barr's comments one might assume the media, and public, had been mercilessly and relentlessly demanding the resignation of every member of the crew onboard that MRH-90 Taipan helicopter on that fateful afternoon last January.

That would, of course, be an incorrect assumption.

What the reporting, led by ABC Canberra, has sought to do is seek answers, not scalps.

That it took freedom of information requests to expose the fact that it took 45 minutes for the helicopter crew to alert the Emergency Services Agency to the location of fire is proof that authorities - ACT and Commonwealth - haven't been entirely forthcoming about the response to the ecological disaster.

There has been no public inquiry into the incident, no formal reports.

In the absence of answers, the media and public will keep filling the vacuum with questions - as is their right.

What Barr did on Thursday morning - and this is the alarming part - was confuse, or deliberately attempt to blur, the very clear distinction between what amounts to accountability and what could be considered a "witch hunt".

Canberrans should be wary of any politician who employs this diversionary tactic, one favoured by a US president not long departed from the Oval Office.

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Further, Barr's comments served to dismiss, or minimise, the pain, anger or frustration some Canberrans feel about the devastation caused to their beloved national park. His comments lacked empathy.

Barr doesn't want people talking about the circumstances surrounding the ignition of the Orroral Valley fire.

He doesn't get that choice.

After all, when a fire scorches a third of your territory's land mass, leaving a trail of environmental devastation in its blackened and sooty wake, you deserve answers.