Fire and Emergency New Zealand has sent a wildfire aviation specialist to Australia to run the aerial attack on several large bushfires in the north west of Tasmania.

Fire and Emergency Deputy National Commander Ken Cooper says the Tasmanian Fire Service and the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service have been managing a number of significant vegetation fires sparked by dry lightning strikes since 3 February.

"The fires are in challenging terrain and the Tasmanians have been mostly managing the fires with aircraft while ground crews battle the fires accessible by road," he says.

It is expected the current significant fires will continue to burn uncontained for several weeks, causing ongoing resourcing and fatigue management pressures.

Our specialist arrived in Tasmania on Wednesday and has relieved the Tasmanian Air Operations Manager. They will be providing the overall coordination of aerial operations across the fires over the next two weeks.

"Our thoughts are with our neighbours in Tasmania, and we are happy to answer the call for help," Ken Cooper says.

Fire and Emergency supports other countries in their time of need. Alongside predecessor organisations, we have been deploying personnel internationally to wildfire emergencies for more than 20 years.

This deployment is Fire and Emergency’s 75th international wildfire deployment since 2000. There have been 1544 firefighters deployed during this time. Note: this number does not include non-wildfire deployments, such as for natural disasters.

"When Fire and Emergency receives a request for firefighting assistance, we firstly consider the fire conditions in Aotearoa before we decide if we can support our international colleagues," Ken Cooper says.

"These international deployments are not only beneficial for the countries that receive help, but also to our people. They gain valuable experience and skills in dealing with large scale and complex wildfires, which can be different from the types of fires they usually encounter back home."

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