KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister John Key has offered 100 firefighters to help tackle the fatal bushfires that have claimed almost 100 lives in Australia.
Ninety-three people are confirmed dead in Victoria in Australia's deadliest ever bushfires and at least 750 homes have been destroyed.
There are fears the death toll could yet rise further with 25 bushfires still raging out of control this morning.
Mr Key said he had spoken to Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last night and offered up to 100 firefighters that could be mobilised in 24-48 hours.
"I anticipate they would be dispatched very soon," he said on TVNZ's Breakfast programme.
Mr Key said he had expressed his sympathies to Mr Rudd, who was "pretty cut-up" by the fires. He was "touched" by New Zealand's offer of assistance.
Mr Key said New Zealand could also offer monetary relief if necessary, but it was not likely to be required, he said.
"What we can do is, with that manpower, really help out even if it's just a matter of relieving at times.
"We've obviously got to make sure we protect our domestic situation as well."
Fire ban in NZ
New Zealand is facing its own threat of fires today. National Rural Fire Officer Murray Dudfield today said there were total fire bans in many parts of the New Zealand and people here also needed to take care to lessen fire risks.
"People should take stock and perhaps have a think about the dryness of the vegetation out there," he said on Radio New Zealand.
"Look at the activities you were going to do and say well perhaps it's a little bit risky to do that today."
But Mr Dudfield said while there was the potential for large fires in drier parts of New Zealand like Marlborough and Central Otago, the risk was nothing like that in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
He said New Zealand's offer of assistance to Australia needed to be seen in the context of the huge firefighting manpower available in Australia.
In Victoria alone there were 60,000 rural firefighters of which only 5000 were mobilised in the fatal fires at the weekend, he said.
- NZPA
