Two more teams of New Zealand firefighters are heading to Victoria in Australia to help battle out-of-control bushfires.
A fire in the Melbourne suburb of Craigieburn earlier this month. Photo: AAP / DAVID CROSLING
National rural fire officer Murray Dudfield says another 31 New Zealand firefighters will be sent to Victoria this week.
In January, 44 New Zealand firefighters were deployed to Victoria. Nine of them had volunteered for another rotation and the rest would return to New Zealand this week, Mr Dudfield said.
He said another team of 18 firefighters would leave for Australia on Monday and 13 more on Friday.
The deployment follows a request from Victoria's Fire Commission for further support as the state tackles widespread bush fires, AAP reports.
Mr Dudfield says the initial teams have have spent most of their time building containment lines and back-burning in the Orbost area of East Gippsland.
The bushfires were still burning out of control in Victoria's far east on Sunday, with light rain doing little to dampen the flames.
The largest of the out-of-control fires spans almost 130,000 hectares.
