Free Bushfire! by Bindi Irwin Page B

joined Tracy, a vet nurse, and Tanya and Joe, two volunteer carers, in the back of the van. Pretty soon they were out on the open road. The trees flashed past as they drove deeper into the national park.
    As the van approached the fire, the smell of smoke grew stronger. Bindi coughed and her eyes started to sting. She squinted out the window at the charred bush to the side of the road. “It looks so awful,” she whispered. The others nodded their agreement.
    When they finally pulled up in a clearing, it felt as if they were very close to the fire; it was incredibly hot and ash swirled in the fierce wind. Bindi was glad they had brought so much extra drinking water. She already felt thirsty again.
    A few tents had been hastily erected as a rest area for firefighters. People were shouting orders, massive pieces of fire-fighting equipment were being dragged this way and that, and there was so much smoke in the air that it was difficult to see.
    Their small group gathered around Richard. “We can’t go any closer to the fire; we leave that job to the professionals. This is an area where the firefighters can bring out any injured animals. Once we’ve looked them over and made them as comfortable as possible, we’ll shuttle the animals back to the hospital.”
    Richard pointed to a small tent to the side. “We can set up our kit over here. The tent gives the animals some shade, which is vital. One of our first jobs will be to lower their body temperatures.”
    It didn’t take long to unpack their emergency kit and get set up. Almost immediately, two animals were brought over for treatment. One was a little blue-tongue lizard with minor skin burns. Tracy took care of him by bathing him in cool water.
    The other injured animal was a koala. He had large fluffy ears and a cute oversized nose. Even though he was hurt and distressed, Bindi thought he was the cutest, fattest koala she had ever seen. She was going to pay special attention to this little guy!
    The firefighter who brought over the koala looked exhausted, and his face was smeared with black soot. Bindi quickly grabbed one of their water bottles and passed it to him. He nodded his thanks.
    â€œGot our work cut out for us with this one, that’s for sure,” he grunted. “Terrible winds.”
    Bindi asked, “What’s it like out there?”
    The large man sighed. “It’s not good. Hot and dangerous. But you know,” he added, almost as an afterthought, “sometimes you can hold back the flames and then you really feel like you’ve made a difference.” With that comment he was off again, running back toward the fire.
    Bindi thought about his words. She understood what he was talking about. Making a difference was what her family was all about.
    Bindi and Rosie helped Richard hold the koala on the table while Richard injected him with some medicine to calm him down. He then put Bindi in charge of applying cooling pads to the koala’s wounds. He explained that the koala had second-degree burns, which meant there was blistering on the skin. It was a serious injury. Richard looked worried.
    As the poor creature became more sedated, Bindi was able to stroke his fur and talk gently to him. “Don’t worry, little fella. We’ll take good care of you. Everything will be okay.”

Terri and Robert were busy with worries of their own. Even though the fire was still some distance away, if it got out of control it could threaten the zoo. They had spent the morning going over the zoo’s fire prevention procedures with Rosie’s mum, Katie, who was one of the animal keepers. They had walked around the entire zoo looking over each enclosure.
    Katie was reading through their evacuation plan one more time.
    Robert turned to his mum. “What if the fire does come closer? What will we do?”
    Terri smiled at her son. “Good question. Have you noticed all the big water tanks we have