Wildfires

A​
Wildfires are fires occurring either in the countryside or an area of wilderness. They are different from
other fires in that they are uncontrolled, are much larger, and are able to spread out rapidly from the
original source at speeds of up to 23 kilometres per hour. They are also able to ‘jump’ over gaps such
as roads and even rivers. Wildfires occur in countries that have a lot of vegetation and a hot, dry
climate. They are most commonly found in Australia due to the weather conditions of the country.
They pose a danger to human and animal life and the infrastructure throughout the year, but are
especially prevalent in the warmer months of spring and summer. The United States also has a huge
number of wildfires with an estimated sixty to eighty thousand a year, resulting in a loss of between
three and ten million acres of land annually. In 1910 a single wildfire burnt over three million acres of
land in the US.

B​
Ninety per cent of wildfires are ignited by people, the remaining 10 per cent by lightning. Common
human-generated causes of wildfires include arson, camping fires, careless disposal of lit cigarettes,
bonfires lit to burn rubbish and children playing with fireworks or matches. Three components are
necessary to start a fire: oxygen, fuel and heat. These three make up the so-called “fire triangle” that
fire fighters use to put out blazes. The theory is that if they can remove one of the triangle pillars, they
can take control of and eventually extinguish the fire.

C​
The speed at which wildfires spread depends on the fuel around them. Fuel is any living or dead
material that will burn. Types of fuel include anything from trees, underbrush and grassland to
houses. The quantity of inflammable material around a fire is known as “the fuel load” and is
determined by the amount of available fuel per unit area, usually measured in tons per acre. The
dryness of the fuel also influences how fires behave. Dry fuel burns quickly and makes the fires much
harder to control. Basic fuel characteristics affecting a fire are size and shape, arrangement and
moisture, but with wildfires, where fuel usually consists of the same type of material, the main factor
influencing ignition time is the ratio of the fuel’s total surface area to its volume. The surface area of a
twig, for example, is not much bigger than its volume, so it ignites rapidly. However, a tree’s surface
area is much smaller than its volume, so it requires more time to heat up before ignition.

D​
Three weather variables affect wildfires: temperature, wind and moisture. Temperature directly
influences the sparking of wildfires, as heat is one of the three pillars of the fire triangle. The sun
heats and dries sticks, trees and underbrush, turning them into potential fuel. Higher temperatures
can cause fuels to ignite, burn more quickly and add to the speed of a wildfire’s spread.
Consequently, wildfires tend to rage in the afternoon, when temperatures are at their hottest. The
biggest influence on a wildfire is probably the wind. This is also the most unpredictable variable.
Winds provide fires with extra oxygen and more dry fuel, and make wildfires spread more quickly.
Fires also create winds of their own that can be up to ten times faster than the ambient wind. Winds
can spread embers that generate additional fires, an event known as “spotting”. Winds also change
the course of fires, and gusts can take flames up into trees, starting “crown fires”. Humidity and
precipitation provide moisture, the last of the three weather variables. Higher levels of humidity mean
fewer wildfires. It is hard for fuel to ignite if moisture levels are high and humidity slows fires down and
reduces their intensity.

E​
Topography can also have a huge influence on how wildfires spread. In contrast to fuel and weather,
topography barely changes over time and can help or hinder the spread of a wildfire. The principal
topographical factor effecting wildfires is slope. Fires move uphill much faster than downhill, and the
steeper the slope, the quicker fires move. This is because fires move in the same direction as the
ambient wind, which generally blows uphill. In addition, the fire can preheat fuel further uphill as
smoke and heat rise in that direction. However, once a fire reaches the top of a hill, it has to struggle
to come back down.

F​
Each year thousands of fire fighters risk their lives when dealing with wildfires. There are two
categories of elite fire fighters: hotshots and smokejumpers. Operating in 20-man units, the key task
of hotshots is to construct firebreaks (a strip of land with all potential fuel removed) around fires. As
their name suggests, smokejumpers jump out of aircraft to reach smaller fires situated in inaccessible
regions. Their aim is to contain these smaller fires before they turn into bigger ones. As well as
constructing firebreaks and putting water and retardant (a red chemical containing phosphate
fertiliser) on fires, fire fighters also create “backfires” which burn towards the main fire, incinerating
any potential fuel in the wildfire’s path. Fire fighters on the ground also receive extensive support from
the planes and helicopters which drop thousands of gallons of water and retardant to slow and cool
fires.

Questions 1 - 5

The text has six paragraphs. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate
number (i - ix).

Example Answer

Paragraph A iv
1 Paragraph B

2 Paragraph C

3 Paragraph D

4 Paragraph E

5 Paragraph F

i The Role of the Elements

ii Solutions from the Air

iii Fire Triggers

v The Lie of the Land

vi Rain - the Natural Saviour

vii Feeding the Flames

viii Fires and Trees

ix Battling the Blaze

Questions 6 - 9

Answer the questions. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

6 What is the term for the amount of material that could be lit around a fire?

7 When do wildfires burn at their fiercest?

8 What can travel in the wind to create fires at some distance from the initial fire?

9 What is the name of the additional fires that fire fighters use to control wild fires?

Questions 10 - 13

Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each
answer.

10 The most important factor in how quickly a wildfire catches fire is the fuel's surface to
volume _______________ .

11 The most significant weather factor to affect wildfires’ actions is _______________ .

12 Fires on the tops of trees are known as _______________ .

13 Wildfires usually travel much faster _______________ because of the typical direction of
prevailing winds.
The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom

The first reference to a paper mill in the United Kingdom was in a book printed by Wynken de Worde
in about 1495. This mill belonged to a certain John Tate and was near Hertford. Other early mills
included one in Dartford, owned by Sir John Spielman, who was granted special privileges for the
collection of rags by Queen Elizabeth, and one built in Buckinghamshire before the end of the
sixteenth century. During the first half of the seventeenth century, mills were established near
Edinburgh, at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire and several in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and
Surrey. The Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since 1694, and ones with simple
watermarks in them since at least 1697. Henri de Portal was awarded the contract in December 1724
for producing the Bank of England watermarked bank-note paper at Bere Mill in Hampshire. Portals
has retained this contract ever since but production is no longer at Bere Mill.

There were two major developments around the middle of the eighteenth century in the paper
industry in the UK. The first was the introduction of the rag engine or hollander, invented in Holland
sometime before 1670, which replaced the stamping mills that had previously been used for the
disintegration of the rags and beating of the pulp. The second was in the design and construction of
the mould used for forming the sheet, solving the problem of early moulds, which had straight wires
sewn down on to the wooden foundation. The early moulds produced an irregular surface which had
characteristic “laid” marks and, when printed on, the ink did not give clear, sharp lines. James
Whatman the Elder developed a revolutionary woven wire fabric, and produced the first woven paper
in 1757.

Increasing demand for paper during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led to
shortages of the rags needed to produce it. Part of the problem was that no satisfactory method of
bleaching pulp had yet been devised, which meant that only white rags could be used to produce
white paper. Chlorine bleaching was being used by the end of the eighteenth century, but excessive
use produced papers that were of poor quality and deteriorated quickly. By 1800 up to 24 million
pounds of rags were being used annually to produce 10,000 tons of paper in England and Wales, and
1,000 tons in Scotland, the home market being supplemented by imports, mainly from the continent.
In 1765, Jacob Christian Schäffer had carried out experiments using other materials, such as
sawdust, rye straw, cabbage stumps and spruce wood, and around 1800, Matthias Koops carried out
further experiments using straw and other materials at the Neckinger Mill, Bermondsey, but it was not
until the middle of the nineteenth century that pulp produced from straw or wood was utilised in the
production of paper.

By 1800 there were 430 (564 in 1821) paper mills in England and Wales (mostly single vat mills),
under 50 (74 in 1823) in Scotland and 60 in Ireland, but all the production was by hand and the output
was low. The first attempt at a paper machine to mechanise the process was patented in 1799 by
Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert, but it was not a success. However, the drawings were brought to
England by John Gamble in 1801 and passed on to the brothers Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, who
financed the engineer Brian Donkin to build the machine. The first successful machine was installed
at Frogmore, Hertfordshire, in 1803. The paper was pressed onto an endless wire cloth, transferred to
a continuous felt blanket and then pressed again. Finally it was cut off the reel into sheets and
loft-dried in the same way as handmade paper. In 1809 John Dickinson patented a machine that used
a wire cloth-covered cylinder revolving in a pulp suspension, the water being removed through the
centre of the cylinder and the layer of pulp removed from the surface by a felt covered roller (later
replaced by a continuous felt passing round a roller). This machine was the forerunner of and model
for the present-day cylinder mould or vat machine, used mainly for the production of boards. Both of
these machines produced paper as a wet sheet, which required drying after removal from the
machine, but in 1821 T. B. Crompton patented a method of drying the paper continuously, using a
woven fabric to hold the sheet against steam-heated drying cylinders. After it had been pressed, the
paper was cut into sheets by a cutter fixed at the end of the last cylinder.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the pattern for the mechanised production of paper had been
set. Subsequent developments concentrated on increasing the size and production of the machines.
Similarly, developments in alternative pulps to rags, mainly wood and esparto grass, enabled
production increases. Conversely, by 1884, despite the increase in paper production, as production
was concentrated into fewer, larger units, there was a decrease in the number of paper mills in
England and Wales to 250 and in Ireland to 14 (Scotland increased to 60). The geographical location
of mills also changed. Early mills were small and had been situated in rural areas, but larger mills
were built in or near urban areas, closer to suppliers of the raw materials (esparto mills were
generally situated near a port as the raw material was brought in by ship) and the paper markets.

Questions 14 - 20

Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text, choose FALSE if the
statement contradicts the information, or choose NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

14 The printing of paper money in the UK has always been done by the same company.

15 Early paper-making was at its peak in Holland in the eighteenth century.

16 Eighteenth-century developments in moulds led to the improvement of a flatter, more even paper.

17 Chlorine bleaching proved the answer to the need for more white paper in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.

18 The first mechanised process that had any success still used elements of the handmade
paper-making process.

19 Modern paper-making machines are still based on John Dickinson’s 1809 patent.

20 The development of bigger mills near larger towns was so that mill owners could take advantage
of potential larger workforces.
Questions 21 - 26

Choose the correct date for each event. Write the correct letter A-G for each answer.

21 The first circulation of paper currency by the Bank of England.

22 Watermarks first used for paper money.

23 Manufacture of the first woven paper.

24 The first machine for making paper copyrighted.

25 A new method for drying paper patented.

26 The debut success of a machine for making paper.

DATES

A 1803

B 1757

C 1821

D 1697

E 1799

F 1670

G 1694
PROBLEMS WITH WATER

Nearly half the world’s population will experience critical water shortages by 2025, according to a
report by the United Nations (UN). Wars over access to water are a rising possibility and the main
conflicts in Africa during the next 25 years could be over this most precious of commodities. “Potential
water wars are likely in areas where rivers and lakes are shared by more than one country,” says
Mark Evans, a UN worker. Evans predicts: “Population growth and economic development will lead to
nearly one in two people in Africa living in countries which face water scarcity or ‘water stress’ within
25 years.” Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres of water available per person per
year, while water stress means less than 1,500 cubic metres of water per person per year. The UN
report says that by 2025, 12 more African countries will join the 13 that already suffer from water
stress or water scarcity. What makes the water issue even more urgent is that demand for water will
grow increasingly fast as larger areas are used to grow crops. Evans adds: “The strong possibility
that the world is experiencing climate change also adds to this urgency.”

The question of how to deal with water shortages is in the forefront of the battle between
environmental activists on the one hand and governments and construction firms on the other. At a
recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, activists mounted a campaign to
halt dam construction on environmental grounds.

One of the UN’s eight millennium development goals is to halve the number of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2020. This had already been agreed upon at the summit,
but one of the unresolved issues in the implementation plan was whether the goal on water would be
extended to cover sanitation. The risks posed by water-borne diseases in the absence of sanitation
facilities mean that the two goals are closely related. US negotiators have been resisting the
extension of goals to include sanitation due to the financial commitment this would entail. However,
Evans says the US is about to agree to this extension. This agreement could give the UN a chance to
show that in one key area the world development agenda was advanced in Johannesburg.

A number of projects and funding initiatives were also unveiled at the summit. However,
implementation is always harder, as South Africa has experienced in its water programme. Graham
Bennetts, a water official in the South African government explains: “Since the 1994 elections, the
government has provided easy access to water for 7 million people, but extending this to a further 7
million and ensuring this progress is sustainable is one of South Africa’s foremost implementation
challenges.” In South Africa, access to water is defined as 25 litres a person daily that can be
accessed from within a distance of 200 metres from where they live. “Although South Africa’s feat far
exceeds the UN millennium goal on water supply, severe constraints on local government capacity
make a more rapid expansion difficult,” says Bennetts.

However, according to Liane Greef of the Environmental Monitoring Group, for some people who
have only recently been given ready access to water the benefits are short lived as they are unable to
pay for the extra costs for water and the supply is then cut off. Greef is the programme manager for
Water Justice in southern Africa. Those whose water supply is cut off also automatically forfeit their
right to 6,000 free litres of water for a family a month under South Africa’s “water for all” policy. In the
face of continued increases in unemployment, payment for water and other utilities has the potential
to undo government’s good reputation for water delivery.

The method of ensuring sufficient water supply, and its management, will increasingly become a
political battleground in South Africa. Water Affairs director-general Mike Muller says South Africa is
near the end of its dam-building programme. However, there are big projects proposed elsewhere in
southern Africa that could possibly be halted by activists who could bring pressure on funding
agencies such as the World Bank.

Greef says her group will campaign against any proposed new dams in southern Africa. According to
Greef, rather than rely on new dam construction, people should ensure that water is used wisely at all
times, not only during dry spells. Another battleground for her group is over the privatisation of water
supply; this, she insists, is best handled in the public interest by accountable government.

There is increasing hope of advances in technology that will help to deal with water shortages.
Agricultural production takes up about 90 per cent of water consumed for human purposes, according
to the UN. In order to lower agricultural demand for water, the Sri Lanka-based International Water
Management Institute is researching ways of obtaining “more crop per drop” through the development
of drought-resistant crops, as well as through better water management techniques. One of the
institute’s research sites is the Limpopo River basin. According to the institute’s director-general,
Frank Rijsbereman, rice growers in China use a quarter of the water per ton of produce compared to
those in South Africa. The institute hopes the “green revolution” in crop productivity will soon be
matched by the “blue revolution” in improving water utilisation in agriculture, a solution that could also
help South Africa.

Questions 27 - 34

Choose the correct person for each statement. Write the appropriate initials for each answer.

27 This person says water needs to be utilised more prudently by some people.

28 This person claims South Africa has almost completed its plans for building dams.

29 This person says water costs per household have prevented universal access in South Africa.

30 This person believes the World Summit in Johannesburg will soon have its aims on hygiene
agreed among all participants.

31 This person claims faster development of water supply in South Africa is limited by the facilities of
community administrations.

32 This person states that farmers need to learn how to use water more efficiently.

33 This person believes that letting private companies operate the water supply will have negative
consequences.

34 This person states that a number of different factors contribute to water scarcity and water stress.
MM Mike Muller

FR Frank Rijsbereman

ME Mark Evans

LG Liane Greef

GB Graham Bennetts

Questions 35 - 40

Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text, choose FALSE if the
statement contradicts the information, or choose NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

35 International disputes over shared natural water sources could lead to people getting killed .

36 Water stress is a more serious problem than water scarcity

37 Vocal environment activists were arrested at the World Summit.

38 People need sanitation facilities to ensure a clean water supply is sustainable.

39 The World Summit produced many good ideas, but the government of South Africa has had
difficulty putting them into practice.

40 Growing rice in South Africa requires significantly less water than it does in China.
ANSWER KEY:

1.​ Paragraph B talks about the different causes of wildfires, so iii - Fire Triggers is the best
heading.
2.​ Paragraph C talks about the materials which often fuel wildfires and how different properties of
the materials affect the way they burn, so vii - Feeding the Flames is the best heading.
3.​ Paragraph D talks about how temperature, wind and moisture affect wildfires, so i - The Role
of the Elements is the best heading.
4.​ Paragraph E talks about how terrain can affect wildfires, so v - The Lie of the Land is the best
heading.
5.​ Paragraph F talks about the way firefighters deal with wildfires, so ix - Battling the Blaze is
the best heading.
6.​ The third paragraph states The quantity of inflammable material around a fire is known as “the
fuel load” and is determined by the amount of available fuel per unit area, usually measured in
tons per acre so the fuel load is the correct answer.
7.​ The fourth paragraph mentions wildfires tend to rage in the afternoon, when temperatures are
at their hottest so in the afternoon is the correct answer.
8.​ The fourth paragraph states Winds can spread embers that generate additional fires, an event
known as “spotting” so embers is the correct answer.
9.​ The sixth paragraph says fire fighters also create “backfires” which burn towards the main fire,
incinerating any potential fuel in the wildfire’s path so backfires is the correct answer.
10.​The third paragraph says the main factor influencing ignition time is the ratio of the fuel’s total
surface area to its volume so ratio is the correct answer.
11.​The fourth paragraph says The biggest influence on a wildfire is probably the wind so the
wind is the correct answer.
12.​The fourth paragraphs says Winds also change the course of fires, and gusts can take flames
up into trees, starting “crown fires” so crown fires is the correct answer.
13.​The fifth paragraph says Fires move uphill much faster than downhill, and the steeper the
slope, the quicker fires move. This is because fires move in the same direction as the ambient
wind, which generally blows uphill, so uphill is the correct answer.
14.​The first paragraph mentions that Henri de Portal was awarded the contract in December 1724
for producing the Bank of England watermarked bank-note paper at Bere Mill in Hampshire.
Portals has retained this contract ever since..., so TRUE is the correct answer.
15.​The second paragraph mentions the invention in Holland of a machine used for printing, but it
does not state that the peak of early-printing took place there, so NOT GIVEN is the correct
answer.
16.​The second paragraph mentions ...the design and construction of the mould used for forming
the sheet, solving the problem of early moulds, which [...] produced an irregular
surface, so TRUE is the correct answer.
17.​The third paragraph mentions that Chlorine bleaching was being used by the end of the
eighteenth century, but excessive use produced papers that were of poor quality and
deteriorated quickly, so FALSE is the correct answer.
18.​The fourth paragraph mentions that The first successful machine was installed at Frogmore,
Hertfordshire, in 1803. It then describes the process the machine followed by Finally it was cut
off the reel into sheets and loft-dried in the same way as handmade paper, so TRUE is the
correct answer.
19.​The fourth paragraph states that In 1809 John Dickinson patented a machine [...] This machine
was the forerunner of and model for the present-day cylinder mould or vat
machine, so TRUE is the correct answer.
20.​The fifth paragraph mentions that ...larger mills were built in or near urban areas, closer to
suppliers of the raw materials [...] and the paper markets, so FALSE is the correct answer.
21.​The first paragraph mentions that The Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since
1694, so G is the correct answer.
22.​The first paragraph mentions that The Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since
1694 and with simple watermarks in them since at least 1697, so D is the correct answer.
23.​The second paragraph mentions that James Whatman the Elder [...] produced the first woven
paper in 1757, so B is the correct answer.
24.​The fourth paragraph mentions that The first attempt at a paper machine to mechanise the
process was patented in 1799, so E is the correct answer.
25.​The fourth paragraph mentions that ... in 1821 T. B. Crompton patented a method of drying the
paper continuously, so C is the correct answer.
26.​The fourth paragraph mentions that The first attempt at a paper machine to mechanise the
process was patented in 1799 [...] The first successful machine was installed at Frogmore,
Hertfordshire, in 1803, so A is the correct answer.
27.​In the seventh paragraph Liane Greef says that ... people should ensure that water is used
wisely at all times, so LG is the correct answer.
28.​In the sixth paragraph Mike Muller says that South Africa is near the end of its dam-building
programme, so MM is the correct answer.
29.​In the fifth paragraph Liane Greef says that many people ... are unable to pay for the extra
costs for water and the supply is then cut off, so LG is the correct answer.
30.​In the third paragraph Mark Evans says that US negotiators have been resisting the extension
of goals to include sanitation, but that they are now ... about to agree to
this extension, so ME is the correct answer.
31.​In the fourth paragraph Graham Bennets says that Although South Africa’s feat far exceeds
the UN millennium goal on water supply, severe constraints on local government capacity
make a more rapid expansion difficult, so GB is the correct answer.
32.​In the eighth paragraph Frank Rijsbereman says that ... rice growers in China use a quarter of
the water per ton of produce compared to those in South Africa, so FR is the correct answer.
33.​The seventh paragraph mentions that Liane Greef is strongly against ... the privatisation of
water supply and she believes that it ... is best handled in the public interest by accountable
government, so LG is the correct answer.
34.​In the first paragraph Mark Evans says that Population growth and economic development will
lead to nearly one in two people in Africa living in countries which face water scarcity and later
in the same paragraph adds that the strong possibility that the world is experiencing climate
change also adds to this urgency, so ME is the correct answer.
35.​The first paragraph mentions that Wars over access to water are a rising
possibility, so TRUE is the correct answer.
36.​The first paragraph mentions that Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres of
water available per person per year, while water stress means less than 1,500 cubic metres of
water per person per year, so FALSE is the correct answer.
37.​The seconds paragraph states that At a recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, activists mounted a campaign to halt dam construction on environmental
grounds, but it does not mention whether they were arrested, so NOT GIVEN is the correct
answer.
38.​The third paragraph mentions The risks posed by water-borne diseases in the absence of
sanitation facilities, so TRUE is the correct answer.
39.​The fourth paragraph mentions that A number of projects and funding initiatives were also
unveiled at the summit. However, implementation is always harder, as South Africa has
experienced in its water programme [where] severe constraints on local government capacity
make a more rapid expansion difficult, so TRUE is the correct answer.
40.​The eighth paragraph mentions that rice growers in China use a quarter of the water per ton of
produce compared to those in South Africa, so FALSE is the correct answer.