Otago is playing its part in the international response to Canada's wildfires.
Four Glenorchy firefighters - Will McBeth, Ben Douglas, Sonya Poplawski and Sam De Reeper - are expected to arrive in Canada soon.
Otago principal rural fire officer Graeme Still described the team as a "good crew'' and said they were experienced in high-country firefighting.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand [Fenz] national manager rural Kevin O'Connor said 80 people from Fenz, the Department of Conservation and forestry workers made up what was expected to be the five-week New Zealand deployment team.
On Friday, the total area of burnt land in Canada was recorded at 1,202,645ha, and was increasing at about 8000ha per day.
"Canada is close to exhausting all available wildfire management resources within their country,'' Mr O'Connor said.
"Our fire crews and incident management team members have a range of skills in high demand during lengthy firefighting operations.''
Otago Rural Fire Authority deputy principal rural fire officer Kerry O'Neill, who was on a deployment to the United States in September 2015, said the firefighters could expect to do some hard work.
"You work long days. It's physical work. You don't get much time to do anything else. It's eat, clean, shower, work and you do that for 14 days in a row.''
His advice to those going to Canada was to stay hydrated, to pace themselves and do as the locals do.
"There's no point trying to change their systems with what we do back home. Just do as you're asked.''
He said there were noticeable differences between the type of fires in the northern hemisphere and those New Zealand firefighters fought.
In New Zealand, fires were confined to areas that, as a firefighter, you could see in their entirety, he said, but in the northern hemisphere it could take all day to drive around a fire because of its size.
