Part 1: You will hear a short extract about fires in Australia.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for

each blank.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/31/792736775/bushfires-in-australia-rage-on-with-no-relief-in-sight

 Being stuck in the wall of fire and sea, citizens of an ___________________________________

seek help on the beach on Tuesday.
 ________________________ surrounded Mallacoota, but in the morning, it began to turn red
due to fire rages.
 Because of burning forest, a large number of ________________________________ couldn’t
come back home.
 Although a ___________________________ has swept away the fire from the town, fires could
themselves invent __________________________ and easily alter the situation.
 12 is the current level of the ________________________.
 Arid landscape in Australia facilitates ideal ________________________ for fires to spread the
areas.
 Despite cancellations of ______________________ made by the councils in the New Year Eve,
people who are responsible for observing the fire situation express an approval. And nicely,
firefighting _____________________ round the harbor donated staggeringly a million dollar for
firefighters.
 Whether the volunteers are given money for their efforts in the fire rescue remains a kind of
_________________________.

KEY

Trapped between a wall of fire and the sea, residents of an Australian coastal town called Malla took
refugee on the beach early Tuesday. Here's resident Winterson describing the fire on Malla community
radio. It's absolutely horrific at the moment. We have got bluster wind surrounded by red sky, choking
dust and choking smoke. That is just one of countless dramatic stories to come out of this bushfire
season, which is raging on with no relief in sight.

With us now for an overview of the fire situation in Australia where it is already New Year's Day, is a
reporter for The Sydney morning herald - Laura. I would start by wishing you Happy New Year, I guess I
still will, but it sounds like it's quite a way to ring in 2020 there in Australia. Can you tell us just what the
latest is? A lot of residents in Malla yesterday were faced with a really dark, black sky. When the
morning progressed, it started to turn red and we're seeing really alarming pictures of people bathe in
red light. So despite the efforts of firefighters at about midday the fire in the town continued to burn.
This town is a really popular place for holidaymakers. Over summer, we see the population of about
1000 people swell to 8000 people. Many of these holidaymakers tried to leave early, but it left about
4000 to 5000 people still in the town. We're lucky that a wind direction has come through the town and
moved the fire away from the town. But there are really breathtaking pictures of what that town faced
yesterday.

So it sounds as though even though this is good for Mallac, the winds have turned away there that
means the fire's headed in other direction and putting other communities at risk. As with all fires, they
generate their own weather systems. So while they might be safe now, it can easily change now, it's a
really volatile and fast-moving situation. And I should note, the overall death toll stands at 12.
You mentioned the population of a beach town swells in summer. It is summer right now in Australia,
which means even setting aside the fires, it is really hot. Is that contributing to the spread of the fires?
It's not helping. Our landscape is very dry. I've been on the road covering the bushfires for the last two
weeks or so. And no matter where you go, you can just see how dry it is, which is just creating perfect
fire fuel for these fires to rip through the areas.

 What's the situation where you are in Sydney? I know that there's always a huge New Year Eve firework
display, which I guess is a fire hazard and that went ahead as planned. On Monday and Tuesday, we've
seen several councils cancelled their various firework events. But the main Sydney harbor fireworks
that attract millions and millions of people from around the world and are told everywhere went ahead.
This attracted a lot of controversy from various people saying the fireworks should be cancelled because
we've got these bushfires across the state. But the rural fire service, which is the body in charge of
looking after the fire at the moment gave it the ticket of approval. One thing that's nice that's come out
of the fireworks display is that firefighting fundraising efforts around the harbor raised about a million $
for firefighters. Does Australia have enough firefighters? Does it have enough resources to deal with
this? We certainly have a lot of volunteer firefighters who are incredible people, then there are a lot of
other firefighters who are paid members. But we are getting to a stage where we're just seeing people
getting exhausted. Because a lot of them are volunteers, they don't have the funds to keep volunteering
their time. I spoke to one firefighter who had been on the ground for 20 days. And he said he had $800
left in his bank account and had to rely on his elderly parents for funds. The Prime Minister Scot has
announced that there will be about $6,000 available to volunteer firefighters who have given up their
time and volunteered for their 10 days. But as this is quite a new announcement, we don't really know
when the volunteer firefighters will start to see this money. And it's just going to be a kind of rolling
situation.