Birdie and the fire

One day when Birdie was looking for worms, she heard a strange crackling and popping noise.

There was lots of hot wind - whooOooo.

"Come on, Birdie - we have to go! There is a fire coming!" said her friends.

Birdie and her friends have to get away from a bushfire. Birdie and the fire is a story to help young children:

learn what a bushfire is
learn who can help in a fire
work through sad or scary feelings
understand that adults will keep them safe
understand they will feel safe and happy again.

Birdie and the fire

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Watch the animation of Birdie and the fire

Duration: 04:31

Show transcript

Transcript

This is Birdie. Birdie is a happy bird who likes to sing.

She lives in a nest in a tall tree near a forest.

Birdie feels cosy and safe in her nest high up above the ground!

Birdie likes to catch worms and talk with her friend Mr Frog.

Mr Frog lives in a pond with green lily pads.

One day when Birdie was looking for worms, she heard a strange crackling and popping noise. She wondered what it was.

She sniffed the air. "Yuck. That smells like burning," she thought. Then her eyes began to burn and sting.

Birdie flew back up to her nest and looked around.

All the birds were chattering and chirping. The insects were buzzing!

There was a lot of hot wind.

"Come on, Birdie we have to go! There's a fire coming!" said her friends.

The crackling and popping got louder and louder. Everything hissed and spluttered.

Birdie didn't like the black smoke it made her cough and it made her eyes sore.

Birdie was very frightened. She flew off to find a safe place.

Birdie and Mr Frog hid near the fire truck that came to help. The fire truck had a loud siren.

The firefighters shouted in loud voices to each other. They used their big hoses to spray the fire with water.

Noisy helicopters came too and dropped water on the fire.

Birdie and Mr Frog didn't like all the noise. It was very scary.

They hugged each other and closed their eyes tight.

They waited and waited for one whole day and one whole night.

Luckily, their friends had brought some food.

When the fire was over Birdie flew back to her tree.

Oh no! The trees were gone! Her nest was gone.

Everything was dirty and black and stinky - even her feathers!

Birdie was very sad. She started to cry.

Lots of helpers came. They bought buckets and shovels and saws, to clean and fix and plant.

z-z-z went the saws, swish went the hoses; dig dig dig went the shovels; chop chop chop went the blades of the helicopters.

Birdie didn't like all the noise. She covered her ears with her wings.

Some helpers bought food to eat. Other helpers brought sticks to build Birdie a new nest. Some of Birdie's friends bought feathers to make her a bright new coat.

Birdie felt better.

Soon the trees and bushes started to grow.

The animals and birds of the forest came back.

There were happy sounds again, bees buzzing and birds chirping.

Birdie and Mr Frog were both safe. Birdie was happy again.

Watch the Auslan translation of Birdie and the fire

Duration: 04:10