With early preparations underway for the upcoming wildfire season in New Zealand - expected to carry heightened fire danger due to an El Niño weather pattern this summer – support for Canada is still ongoing.

A fifth deployment of Fire and Emergency and forestry company specialist personnel departed Auckland airport to assist with the ongoing wildfires in Canada last month.

Echo deployment consists of two Divisional Supervisors, two Heavy Equipment Group Supervisors, one Air Operations Branch Director, one Helicopter Coordinator and one Area Representative.

An international effort has been made to assist Canada, with firefighters from Australia, the United States, South Africa, France, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil all pitching in. This New Zealand deployment will provide much-needed support and relief to local fire managers.

Fire and Emergency has already deployed 92 firefighters across four deployments to the country to help with the firefighting efforts. The majority of those firefighters were on the ground undertaking “arduous firefighting”.