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Australian Leader Curtails Holiday as Firefighters Killed in Huge Blazes

Reuters

   SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a rare public
   apology as he cut short a Hawaiian vacation on Friday after two
   volunteer firefighters were killed battling blazes that are ravaging
   much of the country's east coast.

   Australia has been fighting wildfires in the east for weeks, with
   blazes destroying more than 700 homes and nearly 3 million acres (1.2
   million hectares) of bushland.

   The death of the two firefighters overnight when their fire truck was
   struck by a falling tree as it travelled through the front line of a
   fire brought the death toll since the start of October to eight.

   "This is an absolutely devastating event in what has already been an
   incredibly difficult day and fire season," the New South Wales (NSW)
   state Rural Fire Service said in a statement.

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