Southland firefighters head to Australia to fight deadly fires

Friday, 15 November 2019

An estimated million hectares of land has been burned by bushfires following catastrophic fire conditions in Australia.

Four Southland firefighters are heading to Australia to support the massive firefighting effort, now in its ninth week.

They'll join a team of 26 who are on their way to fight some of the 70 bushfires currently blazing across Queensland and New South Wales where a state of fire emergency has been called.

The devastating fires have been raging since September and New Zealand already has 25 crew members on the ground helping with air attack, heavy machinery, safety and deployment coordination.

The New Zealand firefighters will be working back-to-back 14-hour shifts for two five-day rotations.

New South Wales residents were urged to evacuate woodlands for the relative safety of city centers as authorities braced for extreme fire danger on Tuesday.

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Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Paul Turner said fighting fires of this magnitude was a demanding task.

'We're happy to continue to support our Australian colleagues when called upon They're tough firefighting conditions over there at the moment. The hot, very dry and windy conditions are causing extreme wildfire behaviour.'

Sarah McIntyre, a former Invercargill resident now living in Nabiac, said the firefighters were 'absolute heroes'.

Nabiac is a small town in New South Wales and McIntyre said it's already been evacuated after a fire came within kilometres of her home.

She's currently overseas with her nine-year-old son, but her husband is at home with their two toddlers and dogs.

McIntyre's remaining children have been sent to their grandparents in a neighbouring town.

When the roads are open, her husband drives home to check on their property.

Southland firefighters will leave for Australia this weekend to help fight the raging wildfires in Queensland and New South Wales. Pictured here are a team of Country Fire Authority members working to control fires in Sydney on Thursday.

'Some friends have been evacuated multiple times,' she said.

'It's been really stressful watching from afar.'

Two Southland firefighters who returned from Australia on Thursday described the situation as a 'war zone.'

They were the first New Zealand firefighters to return after eight days in Glen Innes and Port Macquarie.

Four people have died and at least 300 homes have been destroyed or damaged by fires covering 1 million hectares in New South Wales.