New Zealand has a Fire and Emergency agreement with USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia to help fighting wildfires. This agreement works both ways. Immediately after the earthquake in Christchurch in 2010, American USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) came to help. In fact, USAR from many countries also came bringing their skills and equipment to help.
California is fighting large wildfires, probably started by lightning and by the extremely dry conditions caused by the heat wave. Thousands of people have been evacuated, and thousands of houses have burnt down. Thirty-six New Zealand fire-fighters have joined the exhausted Californian crew. They will be there for 37 days. The heat will be difficult for New Zealanders coming from winter.
British Colombia in Canada is also fighting a large number of fires – 450 fires in fact, and 65 New Zealand crew have already gone to assist.
In the past 18 years, New Zealanders have helped USA 6 times, Canada 3 times and Australia 11 times. In total 784 fire-fighters have helped overseas. In times of need, it is wonderful that other countries want to help. It also provides very valuable experience for our own fire-fighters.
Vocabulary
• urban (adj) – city; opposite is rural, meaning countryside
• evacuated (verb, usually passive) – forced to leave
• exhausted (adj) – very, very tired
Note: The first issue of Multicultural Times is out. Have a look at it. It covers news about the many different cultures which make up NZ, news which does not often appear in our major newspapers.