Another 31 New Zealand firefighters are heading to Australia to help battle raging bushfires.
Two more teams of firefighters will be sent to Victoria this week, New Zealand's National Rural Fire officer Murray Dudfield said.
In January, 44 Kiwi firefighters were deployed to Victoria. Nine of them had volunteered for another rotation and the rest would return to New Zealand this week, he said.
Another team of 18 firefighters will leave for Australia on Monday and 13 more on Friday, Mr Dudfield said.
The deployment follows a request from Victoria's Fire Commission for further support as the state tackles widespread bush fires.
The initial teams have have spent most of their time building containment lines and back-burning in the Orbost area of East Gippsland, Mr Dudfield said.
The bushfires were still burning out of control in Victoria's far east on Sunday, with light rain doing little to dampen the flames.
The largest of the out-of-control fires spans almost 130,000 hectares.
