Whangārei's rural firefighters are in high demand, with five deployments so far this year, mostly to Australia.
A crew of 10, led by Kieran Sullivan and Marty Marshall, from the Forest Protection Services (FPS), left Whangārei on Friday last week for a 24-day deployment to Victoria state for work felling, clearing and burning.
Another crew of five firefighters were to have left for Tasmania later this week but the deployment was cancelled.
Firefighters from New South Wales would be sent instead.
Another five Forest Protection Services firefighters returned from Tasmania last weekend.
So far this season, there have been three deployments involving FPS employees to Tasmania, and one each to Victoria and to Nelson.
Bushfires ignited by dry lightning have burnt tens of thousands of hectares across three large fires in the Tasmanian Wilderness Heritage Area since December.
FPS owner Kevin Ihaka said his firefighters flew to remote and steep areas in Victoria and cut holes in the forests for helicopters to lower monsoon buckets.
The work is tough and involved long hours but said Whangārei crews have the experience of working in that environment, both locally and overseas, in past years.
He said fortunately, FPS has had a large workforce for many years and was able to deploy firefighters to faraway places at short notice.
"A growth in the forestry sector has enabled us to employ the type of people used for firefighting duties as well. There may be a shortage of workers in forestry but work is outstripping supply," Ihaka said.
"Our planting season hasn't started so firefighting duties is good work for our crews in the off-season."
Out-of-control blazes are raging in Victoria's east in what is being described as the state's worst bushfires since Black Saturday a decade ago.