44 In October 2003 several forest fires started in Southern California. For a week firefighters tried to fight the flames, but they did not have a chance against them. Twenty people ‘were killed and about 8,000 houses were destroyed. living in the Lake View | they tried to drive to a Estates realised that the | nearby reservoir, they were | flames were getting very | trapped in the flames and | close. They saw that the died in their car. Another | firefighters were helpless | couple who also waited too as the wind blew the flames | long and could not leave in their direction. The | the Lake View Estates, did Iucky ones grabbed a few | not die. They were Iucky. | important things, rushed to | When the flames destroyed eir cars and drove away | their house, they dived into before the flames were too | their swimming pool and close. | survived. One family, however, The fires burned for On Oétober 31, the people rex too long, When | | alifornia more than a week and then it got colder, fog rolled in from the ocean and the flames died. Experts say that there have been forest fires for thousands of years. When it is very dry in California and a hot wind blows out of the desert, a burning cigarette that someone has thrown away may be enough to start a terrible fire. @© Answer the questions. For how long did the firefighters fight the flames? How many houses were destroyed? How many people died? What did most peaple do when the flames came close? How did a couple survive who waited too long to get away? Was this fire in October 2003 the first fire in this area? UNIT 8Language Focus Vocabulary Catastrophes @ complete the sentences with the words below. earthquake hit flames reseve rushed erupted trapped __ travelled 1. The tsunami quickly ‘towards the coast of India 2 Aboy was under a collapsed house. 3A dog found the man after six days. 4 The coast was by a huge wave that was 10 metres high. 5 The..... . that hit the island measured 6.9 on the Richter scale 6 The volcano on May 16. 7 The wind blew the in the direction of the house. 8 When the flames came closer the people to their cars, @ Match the pictures with the sentences from Exercise 1. © Work in pairs. Look at the example dialogue and make up others with the words below. cabbage factory bottlebank horse trailer housing estate A What's an avalanche? B An avalanche? A Yes, B it’s a large mass of snow and ice that falls down the side of a mountain ‘A Thanks. UNITS 45