NZ firefighters heading to US to battle wildfires

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) is sending a five-person specialist team to the United States to help fight wildfires, as part of a joint Australia-New Zealand deployment.

FENZ said the US is experiencing widespread heatwaves, with hundreds of large wildfires burning across multiple states, stretching local resources.

More than 850 wildfires are burning across Canada with officials saying the vast majority are out of control.

Smoke has drifted down to the US, affecting millions of people across multiple states including New Jersey which is set to host of the FIFA World Cup final.

Deputy national commander Brendan Nally said the NZ team was made up of four FENZ personnel and a fifth from the forestry industry.

"They are all trained and experienced in large scale incident management," he said.

"They will be embedded in local incident management teams and provide specialist support across planning, intelligence, operations supervision, aviation coordination and leadership functions."

Nally said the request for assistance was made under a longstanding agreement between the USA, Canada, NZ and Australia to provide mutual assistance with wildfire suppression.

The NZ team was expected to leave late next week and be away for five weeks.