QFES Inspector Mark Burchard, leading the Queensland strike team, said his team had spent months battling their own state’s blazes, but were eager to fly south and help. Fire and Rescue staff will be focused on protecting houses in the Sydney region, while RFS volunteers will tackle bushfires around Wollongong. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Inspector Burchard said his team would bring a wealth of experience and “fresh faces” to give fatigued NSW firefighters a break. “They came up to help us before Christmas, the opportunity is here for us to reciprocate that help,” he said.

RFS volunteer and senior firefighter Caitlyn Forsyth, from Pine Mountain Rural Fire Brigade near Ipswich, said she had put her hand up to go to NSW knowing the risks ahead. "They would do it for us," she said. More than 70 Queensland firefighters, including paid Fire and Rescue staff and Rural Fire Service volunteers, are flying to NSW to relieve exhausted teams on the ground around Sydney. "I think everyone is going to help out - it's community spirit, and that's what we're all about as volunteers, just helping our community. "And they might not be our local community, but we're all Australians, so if we can help out, why not help out."

Ms Forsyth said she would drive trucks through the fires wherever needed. Volunteers briefed on Friday morning before flying south were told it was time to "repay the favour" to NSW firefighters who had helped out in Queensland's fires late last year. Queensland RFS volunteer and strike team leader David Clarke. Credit:Lucy Stone Firefighters will go into conditions where temperatures will be between 39 and 47 degrees, they were told in a briefing, with two day shifts and a night shift. Strike team leader David Clarke, leading a firefighting team from Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley, said the conditions were "nothing like we've seen before".

"They're quite devastating, quite horrific, but we're confident we're prepared with our training, our safety, and we're ready for what gets thrown at us," he said. "Yeah, I could be home with my family and friends, but there's a lot of people in Australia at the moment that don't have the ability to be with their family and friends. "A lot of firefighters in NSW haven't seen their family, haven't seen their friends, for ... many weeks, months. It's about time they need a break and some time with their family and time to recoup." Firefighters will spend a week south of the border with the potential for a fresh deployment if NSW requests additional help after that.