It’s an interesting point. May or may not have relevance. After Black Saturday (I think, but I’ve seen in other places in the vic alps post big fires) dead mountain ash remain, now white, poking.a hundred feet or more above the green living foliage.
IF they were scud running due stress of weather they may be hard to see in flat light.
News footage showed one that had been hit and sheared - presumably in the accident sequence, but of course no information into how - and I make no implication - the chopper came to hit it.