Whangārei's rural firefighters are in high demand, with five deployments so far this year, mostly to Australia.
A crew of 10, led by Kieran Sullivan and Marty Marshall, from the Forest Protection Services (FPS), left Whangārei on Friday last week for a 24-day deployment to Victoria state for work felling, clearing and burning.
Another crew of five firefighters were to have left for Tasmania later this week but the deployment was cancelled.
Firefighters from New South Wales would be sent instead.
Another five Forest Protection Services firefighters returned from Tasmania last weekend.