KEY POINTS:
New Zealand is sending four victim recovery dogs to help in the Australian bushfires.
The dogs and their handlers will fly to Melbourne today with a team of 52 rural firefighters on a Defence Force Boeing 757 leaving from Auckland.
The German shepherds are trained to locate victims above and below ground and among wreckage.
Police said their role was particularly suited to situations where significant loss of life might have occurred over a wide area.
The four teams were drawn from police dog sections in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
The firefighters and dogs will join six police disaster victim identification specialists who are in Victoria to help local police.
Prime Minister John Key volunteered the assistance of 100 firefighters to Australia this week.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment in Victoria made a formal request to the National Rural Fire Authority for support from New Zealand.
New Zealand's National Rural Fire Officer, Murray Dudfield, said the team of 52 firefighters, crew leaders and incident management team members had been drawn from a number of organisations.
Mr Dudfield said the firefighters and managers had been chosen for their remote high country and forestry firefighting experience.
"They will be required to walk into the remote wildfires in forested lands which will involve dry firefighting with hand tools and machinery along with back-burning tasks.
"These wildfires occurred as a result of last weekend's devastating bushfires and some still remain uncontrolled."
The team would probably stay until the end of the month.
"A second contingent of a similar number from New Zealand will most likely be requested to replace this group at that time," Mr Dudfield said.
The firefighters would have familiarisation sessions and be in action by Sunday.
- NZPA
