PHOTO: Four Arizona firefighters were sent to help battle wildfires that have ravaged Australia, the Arizona Bureau of Land Management announced in a press release Wednesday.
The wildfires have been burning in Australia since September, killing at least 26 people and an estimated 1.25 billion animals, destroying 2,000 homes and burning an area twice the size of Maryland.
Brady Shultz, from the agency's Colorado River District in Kingman, and Koreena Haynes, from its state office in Phoenix, were sent to help on fire engines in Victoria just after the new year, the BLM said.
Cody Goff, from the agency's Arizona Strip District in St. George, Utah, and John Garrett, from its Gila District in Safford, left Jan. 7 as part of a 20-person firefighter hand crew, the BLM said.