New Zealand, Aussie Firefighters Bolster US Crews

The United States is getting some international help to fight the wildfires raging in several western states.

Seventy firefighters from Australia and New Zealand arrived in the United States Monday to help fill a shortage of mid-level fire managers.

The 70 firefighters, among them division supervisors, equipment bosses, and strike team leaders, will bolster some 32,000 men already in the field.

"The surprise for all of us is that the size and scale of things -- just the amount of resource[s] that's committed to these fires. All the resources in New Zealand wouldn't staff a very small fire here," Kevin Ihaka, from New Zealand, said.

Capt. Todd Light, an American firefighter, said they're covering a big territory with "pretty few folks."

"It's a big fire. It's a lot of area," Light said. "We don't have a lot of resources with all the fires going on."

The United States is fighting one of the worst fire seasons on record. So far, more than 11,000 square miles have burned.