Six Rotorua forest firefighters to help fight Tasmania wildfires

Jarron McInnes (centre) with Rotorua firefighters Justin Homann (left), Hayden Pearson, Darin Melville, Colin Tanatiu, Liu Brown, and Lucky De Young set for Tasmania tomorrow. Photo/Andrew Warner

Six forest firefighting specialists from Rotorua have been called on to help battle raging wildfires in Tasmania.

The growing number of wildfires in Tasmania over the past month have resulted in urgent calls for help from other Australian states and New Zealand.

The crew from Timberlands Limited works closely with Fire and Emergency New Zealand, has extensive firefighting training and leaves for Tasmania tomorrow .

The specialised team has a high level of tree-felling and chainsaw skills paired with rural and forest fighting experience.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand deputy principal of rural fire Jarron McInnes said the crew members were chosen because of their specific skills and experience in remote locations.

The Rotorua group makes up a part of a larger New Zealand crew heading across the Tasman.

"They are all very keen to go on deployments. Most of the people in New Zealand who are involved in rural fire or belong to forestry organisations with these skills want to go."

McInnes said the men wanted to use their knowledge and experience to help.

They will take their own personal gear, but everything else will be provided for by Australia.

He acknowledged the toll it had on families while their loved ones were away and said there were systems in place to keep families as informed as possible.

Mcinnes said there could be concerns about rural fires around Rotorua with the increased temperatures and wind picking up.

"In the rural sense, it's the busiest time of the year.

"It's a prime opportunity to remind people to be vigilant."

The firefighters headed to Tasmania include five from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), five from the Department of Conservation and 11 from forestry companies.

FENZ national manager rural operations John Rasmussen said the firefighters were going into extremely tough conditions.

"They must be physically and mentally fit."

A seven-person team fly out today followed by 21 remote area firefighters tomorrow. This will be the 23rd time New Zealand fire personnel have been deployed overseas since 2000; the 12th time to Australia and third time to Tasmania.

Rasmussen said FENZ personnel were held in high regard internationally, following the August 2018 deployments to Canada and the United States and the deployment highlighted that.

About the Tasmanian fires

Fires have been burning since late December following a heat wave and period of lightning strikes and high winds.
Fires are burning across 20,000ha of steep, remote mountainous terrain, known as Gell River.
The Gell River region experienced more than 4000 ground impacting lightning strikes on January 14 and 15 that started more than 70 fires, 50 of which are ongoing.
High wind last weekend is expected to be followed by extreme temperatures this week