Three Hedgehope firefighters in Australia
Ken Keenan is apprehensive about what he will face in Australia, but he’s a specialist.
Keenan is the Hedgehope rural fire controller and left for Australia on Sunday.
Fellow Hedgehope firefighters Brodie Butcher and Nigel Milne also went, as well as Jake Wansink, from Dunedin.
It was the first trip to Australia for Butcher and Milne and would provide them with good experience, Keenan said.
They are four of a further 26 firefighters who went to fight some of the 70 bushfires currently blazing across Queensland and New South Wales, where a state of fire emergency had been called.
This is Keenan’s fifth tour of Australia during the past 16 years. ‘‘I’m a bit apprehensive about what we’re going to strike, but we’re specialists and know what the conditions are going to be like,’’ Keenan said. ‘‘The size of the fire is amazing.’’
The firefighters are prepared if they find themselves in harm’s way.
We’re trained to not get into dangerous positions, he said.
The communication systems crews use provide instant updates on weather conditions.
The New Zealand firefighters would be told where in Australia they were being sent once they landed.
They will be relieving some firefighters who have been at the front for weeks, Keenan said.
‘‘It’ll go on for months, the fire season is just beginning.’’
Four people have lost their lives in the fires across Queensland and New South Wales.
The fires have been burning since September.
There were already 25 New Zealand firefighters in Australia before Sunday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Paul Turner said firefighting conditions were tough at the moment.
‘‘The hot, very dry and windy conditions are causing extreme wildfire behaviour,’’ he said.
Queensland Bureau of Meteorology images showed the smoke haze had reached the North Island.