Whangārei fire crew heading back to NSW

Lizzie Holmes of Forest Protection Services in Whangārei putting in a backburn to strengthen a black edge. Photo / Supplied

Ten firefighters from Whangārei are preparing to fly back across the Tasman to replace a crew helping fight major bush fires across New South Wales.

Five of the 10 were part of Fire and Emergency New Zealand crew that left for Australia last month and returned on Sunday for a few days to recuperate before returning today. Greg Meeuwissen will lead the team and the other crew members will be Michael Ihaka, Dre Jacobson, Tama Hill, Mohi Kingi.

The other five firefighters will be Kieran Sullivan, Codi Earle, Journee Houston, Karlaus Cook-Hurinui, and Canadian Ryan O'Neil.

All 10 will travel as part of the Forest Protection Services (FPS) crew and are expected to be back before Christmas.

Some 120 bush and grass fires are burning across NSW with more than 20 uncontained.

The crew of 10 firefighters on the ground, who are also employed by FPS, have been working on three different fires in northern NSW since November 20.

They return on Monday.

Crew leader Nathan Sullivan said they worked either three rotations of five days or four nights of 12- to 14-hour shifts before having a day off.

Their first assignment was for five days working in Banyabba on a fire that burnt 13,161ha, second rotation was for four nights on the Kaloe and Washpool fires.

Sullivan said the fire grounds have been pretty flat or rolling hills for the most part but they haven't slowed the fires down.

"With temperatures ranging from high 20s to mid 30s in the day and not dropping too much at night, and with relative humidity levels in the teens, this has contributed to the extreme fire behaviour."

Whangārei firefighter Luke Feaver soaking down a tree to stop fire climbing up into the crown in NSW. Photo / Supplied

He said a little bit of rain that fell hasn't had any effect on the fires.

"These conditions have definitely made it an awesome challenge for the whole crew. Our main duties for day shift had been patrolling the black edge and making sure nothing jumped the containment line, back burns set by the night shift the previous night and strengthening the burnt edges where needed by adding more fire to reduce fuel.

"I think the biggest difference in the work is probably the amount of back burning there is to be done and although our crews have burnt in the past, the sheer size of them sets it apart from what we do at home or even on other deployment we have been involved in."

Sullivan said the crew was in good spirits, working hard every day, keeping themselves safe and looking after each other.