KEY POINTS:
A team of more than 50 New Zealand firefighters will leave for Australia tomorrow to help fight the bushfires.
The team - which consists of 53 firefighters, crew leaders and management staff from rural authorities across the country - will travel in Air Force aircraft and will be
farewelled from Auckland Airport by Prime Minister John Key.
The firefighters will join a New Zealand liaison officer from the National Rural Fire Authority and six police
disaster victim identification specialists who arrived in Melbourne yesterday.
Among the 181 confirmed dead in the fires are former Whakatane woman Tina Wilson and her three children.
Ms Wilson's parents, who now live in Australia, founded the Whakatane Hotrod Club where members yesterday spoke of the shock of learning one of their own had been claimed by the fires.
President Grant McLellan said some of the older members recalled Tina coming along to meets with her parents as a child. Three years ago she had returned to New Zealand with her mother and children for a nostalgia meet at Meremere.
Members who knew the family were just "completely horrified by what happened" and sent their condolences to Ms Wilson's partner and parents.
Fire Services Minister Richard Worth said the fires were devastating and New Zealand was pleased to offer any practical assistance it could.
"We are all deeply shocked at the loss of life and the impact these wildfires are having on wildlife and property."
National Rural Fire Officer Murray Dudfield said the New Zealand firefighters would be required to walk into the remote wildfires in forested lands and help contain them.
The contingent is expected to stay in Australia for 18 days and will relieve exhausted Australian firefighters.
The disaster victim identification team, which flew to Victoria last night, will also spend three weeks in Australia.
The team, which was to be deployed into the field today, will work in a variety of roles including the recovery of victims, ante-mortem information retrieval, mortuary assistance and reconciliation.
They are led by Senior Sergeant Richard McPhail, who was part of the New Zealand police contingent sent to Thailand after the 2004 tsunami.
Golfing great Greg Norman will tee off with a host of celebrities at a tournament at The Vines Resort in Queensland next week to support bushfire victims.
And on Friday New Zealand Red Cross volunteers will be on hand at the Super 14 match between the Highlanders and the Brumbies in Dunedin, the Crusaders-Chiefs game at Christchurch and the Hurricanes-Waratahs match in Wellington.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said with two Australian teams playing in New Zealand (the Waratahs and Brumbies) on the opening weekend of the Super 14 competition, it was timely for rugby in New Zealand to show its support for people who had been affected.
- AAP
