Eight Forest Fire Management firefighters from the Loddon Mallee region have been deployed to NSW to help battle more than 70 bushfires raging across the state.
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The eight firefighters will join a crew of 10 from the Grampians to create one full task force.
"This is the second task force from the Loddon Mallee that has been deployed to NSW in the past fortnight to provide immediate respite for crews that have already been fighting the fires for several weeks," acting regional manager for forest and fire operations Paul Bates said.
"This task force will be deployed for seven days and increase numbers of firefighters on the ground to share the workload, combat fatigue and keep the community and each other safe."
At least three people have died and 150 homes have been destroyed on the north coast of NSW in the past several days.
An additional two Forest Fire Management staff will also head to NSW to help the Incident Management Teams.
Loddon Mallee deputy chief fire officer Scott Falconer will be a State Liaison Officer.
The first Loddon Mallee task force returned from NSW on November, 1 after a week's deployment.
One of the firefighters, Steve Richardson, said the Loddon Mallee crew worked in difficult conditions and undertook tasks like backburning and extinguishing hot spots.
"I have been on deployment overseas before but this was my first deployment to NSW in my 30-year career," Mr Richardson said.
"They were pretty gruelling 13 - 15 hour days but it was a good experience working with Queensland and NSW crews.
"I was glad we could help our NSW colleagues when they needed us."
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