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Australian Firefighters Spend Christmas Containing Blazes

Reuters

   MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Australian firefighters used cooler conditions
   Christmas Day to try and contain bushfires ahead of hot, dry weather
   later in the week, as leaders and communities thanked them for
   sacrificing time with their families over the holidays.

   In the state of New South Wales (NSW), which saw entire towns
   devastated by fires over the weekend, state premier Gladys Berejiklian
   and the head of the NSW rural fire service, Shane Fitzsimmons, attended
   a breakfast organized by volunteers in the small town of Colo, 90km (55
   miles) northwest of Sydney.

   "Community volunteers provided food, company, conversation, wrapped
   presents & hampers to share for crews heading into the field,"
   Fitzsimmons tweeted. "It was just lovely & spirits were high."

   Christmas Day offered cooler conditions in many parts of the country as
   firefighters, many of them volunteers, spent the day trying to contain
   blazes.

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