Firefighters Head to Tasmania to Battle Bushfires

Forty-three firefighters will leave for Australia tomorrow to help combat fires burning in Tasmania.

National Rural Fire Officer Kevin O'Connor said the firefighters would fly out from Auckland and Christchurch tomorrow afternoon to start the three-week deployment.

He said crews would initially concentrate on containing fires in World Heritage sites in the west and southwest of Tasmania where the fire risk was extreme. Their “tall timber” experience – cutting containment lines through stands of big trees – would be especially useful, he said.

Nearly 80 fires are burning throughout Tasmania, most started by lightning strikes and fuelled by drought conditions and strong winds.

The group consists of eight five-member teams, plus three liaison staff. The teams come from rural fire authorities in Whangarei, Auckland, Rotorua, Nelson and Invercargill. A Defence Force team and Department of Conservation team will also join the deployment – the eleventh to Australia since 2001

Forty-five rural firefighters returned from Australia only this week after battling fires along Victoria’s southwest coast.

ENDS

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