Fire and Emergency New Zealand has welcomed its third contingent of firefighters home from Canada, where they have been supporting efforts to combat significant wildfires across Alberta.

The four-person specialist team departed New Zealand on 5 August and arrived home today (9 September). They have been undertaking specialist roles as taskforce leaders and helicopter coordinators.

Assistant National Commander Nick Pyatt says the team has worked in remote and challenging conditions across Alberta for the past five weeks.

"Our people have shown incredible resilience and professionalism throughout this deployment as they worked alongside crews from Canada and several other countries. We’re proud of the way they’ve represented Fire and Emergency and New Zealand," he says.

New Zealand firefighters are still deployed in Manitoba, Canada. A further team of four specialists are working as part of an eight-person Incident Management Team comprising experienced personnel from New Zealand and Australia. An additional fifth specialist is fulfilling the International Liaison Officer role.

"These deployments help build our capability to manage large wildfires at home, and we are more than happy to provide mutual assistance to our international counterparts," Nick Pyatt says.

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