It is now nearly four weeks since the start of the terrible bush fires in the state of Victoria, Australia, which killed more than 200 people. 53 New Zealand fire fighters came to Victoria to help fight the fires. Today, they returned home and 57 new fire fighters took their place. New Zealand has had a lot of rain recently so the danger of bush fires here has gone.
There are still fires burning in forest areas in Victoria. This week, the weather turned hot and windy again. There were fears that fires would spread again. However, this did not happen but there is a danger of fires moving into the areas where Melbourne’s drinking water comes from.
The New Zealand police also sent six officers three weeks ago to help identify the bodies. These officers worked in Thailand at the time of the tsunami in December 2004. They will return home and three more police officers will take their place to continue the work.
New Zealand donated $2 million to the Australian Red Cross. Half a million dollars of that money was from the New Zealand government but the other $1.5 million came from donations by New Zealand people.