Canadian firefighters arrived in Australia Sunday to assist locals battle fierce bushfires which have raged for more than a month and are still blazing out of control. The 52 Canadians from British Columbia arrived in the southern city of Melbourne and were expected to help contain a dangerous firefront in the southeast of Victoria state, a government spokesman said.
"They will be deployed down to Gippsland," Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord told AFP.
Among the Canadians are nine rappellers, who are trained to jump out of helicopters and fight blazes in remote areas not easily accessible by road, he said.
"It's dangerous work and they are highly qualified people," Ord said.
More than 900,000 hectares, mostly state forest, have been burned out or are still burning in Victoria where the wildfires began on December 1.
Some 2,450 firefighters from around Australia and New Zealand are working to contain the blazes, which have laid waste to thousands of hectares of land and killed tens of thousands of wild animals.
The fires have so far taken one life, that of a 48-year-old man who died when he fell off a vehicle and was run over as he helped fight fires in Gippsland. Six New Zealand firefighters were also injured last month.
Communities in eastern Victoria have been under continuous fire threat since late last year.
The most serious concern Sunday initially centred on a fire on the eastern edge of the largest blaze near the town of Bruthen after the fire advanced some 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) overnight.
But gusty conditions later forced the blaze away from Bruthen and towards several other small communities.
Country Fire Association spokesman Jonathan Cooper said the fire had moved towards Tambo Crossing but was not yet threatening homes.
"It's still active, it's still burning, but it's not threatening properties," he told AFP. "But it's still burning."
