A complement of Tasmanian volunteers has boarded a Royal Australian Air Force plane this morning to join the mainland firefighting effort, as New South Wales faces another day of danger.
The departure of the group of 27 — most of them volunteers — on the RAAF Hercules comes as a Tasmanian crew was praised for their efforts in attempting to save 69-year-old Vivian Chaplain.
The team was assigned to try to save property and protect the township of Wybalena from the blaze near Glen Innes on Friday night.
Three Tasmanian parks and wildlife service firefighters worked to save Ms Chaplain, after she was trapped while defending her home.
They performed CPR and treated her burns, before evacuating her across a river, but she later died.
Tasmania's Premier Will Hodgman described their actions as "an extraordinary display of bravery".
Today's departure of crews to the mainland follow the gesture earlier in 2019 when Tasmanian fire crews were joined by professionals and volunteers from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and other brigades, to combat the devastating bushfires across the island state that burned for months.
It is the second rotation of Tasmanian firefighters that have been sent to New South Wales, with 25 travelling interstate last week.
Tasmania Fire Service district officer Andrew McConnon said the mainland firefighters were deserving of a hard-earned rest.
"It's vitally important that we support our other fire agencies, it was only last year that Tasmania had major fires ourselves and we had hundreds of interstate firefighters come and help us so now it's our turn to go and return the favour," he said.
Devastating bushfires raged through New South Wales on Friday and Saturday, destroying more than 150 homes and killing three people — with five people still unaccounted for.
