Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand
New Zealand has today welcomed home the final contingent of personnel deployed to North America to assist with wildfire response efforts.
Since July, Fire and Emergency New Zealand has led three contingents of firefighters and incident management specialists to the United States and Canada. The “Bravo deployment” who returned today was the largest of the three, comprising 57 people who worked on several large fires, mostly in Washington State.
In all, 68 Kiwis have been deployed in the last eight weeks as part of joint Australia-New Zealand contingents under our long-standing mutual assistance arrangements with the USA and Canada.
The NZ Defence Force, Department of Conservation and the forestry industry have all contributed personnel alongside Fire and Emergency’s own volunteers and paid staff.
Fire and Emergency National Commander Megan Stiffler says that sending our people overseas to help in time of need is more than just being a good global citizen. “The experience that they have gained in complex, large scale firefighting and incident management will be of huge benefit to our own capability.”
Fire and Emergency is preparing for a heightened risk of wildfire over the coming months, due to the Super El Niño predicted to affect the southern hemisphere.
“We are readying ourselves for the likelihood of challenging operating conditions across New Zealand,” Megan Stiffler says. “This is likely to include elevated wildfire risk, periods of severe weather, prolonged dry conditions in many areas, and increased potential for significant incidents requiring sustained operational response.”