Two Otago firefighters have returned home after a job well done as efforts to contain fires in Tasmania's remote southwest wilderness are scaled back.
Otago Rural Fire Authority deputy principal rural fire officer Jamie Cowan and Wakari Volunteer Rural Fire Authority member John Barratt returned to New Zealand on Friday.
Mr Cowan, who acted as the state liaison officer for the National Rural Fire Authority, was in Tasmania for 11 days, while Mr Barratt was in the Australian state for three weeks.
Mr Cowan said many crews stationed in the area were planning to head home after favourable recent weather conditions.
"The numbers were certainly winding right down [when we left],'' he said.
Mr Cowan's role was to update families of the 43 New Zealanders in Tasmania on the situation and he said in his last report a week ago the fire perimeter stretched 1000km.
More than 123,000ha had been burned and nearly 50 fires remained active.
Weather conditions in Tasmania were similar to New Zealand's, ranging from snow showers at altitude to temperatures in the low 30s lower down, Mr Cowan said.
Fire conditions also more closely resembled New Zealand than mainland Australia.
"There was heavy fuel [logs and larger wood], tight scrub, rolling to steep country, and [it was] very remote.
"Our boys did well and were very highly thought of by our Tasmanian counterparts.''
The crews' work included dampening down hot spots and putting in several kilometres of control lines around the fire's edge to protect nearby farmland and forestry blocks and building helipads.
Mr Barratt said the work was tough, mainly because of the denser undergrowth and larger fields than in other fires he had fought, but Kiwi crews went over with that expectation.
The terrain ranged from being flat to being so steep firefighters were on their hands and knees, he said.
The Gordon River Rd fire spread over 4400ha, while the Maxwell River fire was between 1400ha-1600ha, he said.
The latter was accessible only by a 20-minute helicopter ride.
Mr Cowan said 176 New Zealand firefighters had been deployed to mainland Australia and Tasmania already this year.
