US surrenders to wildfires – calls in reinforcements from New Zealand

The United States is facing the brunt of forest fires all across its northern and western parts and have now requested firefighters of New Zealand for assistance to contain these fires. Accordingly, a team of fifteen Kiwi firefighters are joining the battle against the wildfires.
The team would leave for the National Interagency Fire Centre in Boise, Idaho from where they would proceed to Washington, Montana, California or Oregon depending on the situation.
This has been reported in nzhearld.co.nz dated 21 August 2015.

The Kiwi team of rural firefighters had just returned from a month-long stint in Canada last week and have to contain the fires in the US. Already, fires in Oregon and Washington have burnt more than 200,000 hectares in the past few days, and those in California have destroyed nearly 50,000 hectares this year.
The prevailing high temperatures, dry conditions and lightning strikes were posing major problems and hampering the efforts of local firefighters and army volunteers. Therefore, the logistics skills of the Kiwis will be important to tackle this disaster - especially their skills in managing aircraft to fight fires and also ferrying supplies to remote locations.
The Kiwi team is, at reset, on a two-week assignment, but that could be extended by a further fortnight, if necessary.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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