Gippsland fire crews are likely to be helping their New South Wales counterparts battle the state’s bushfires until the middle of November.

There are more than 60 fires burning across NSW and they have already destroyed about 200 homes.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries’ regional agency commander, Peter McHugh, says 20 firefighters and 12 specialists from Gippsland have been sent to help out.

He says the Gippsland crews will be rotated every few days and replacement firefighters will be flown to Penrith later this week.

“What’s really encouraging the number of people who are volunteering, and wanting to go, in part to return the favour from the New South Welshman who came down here [during the 2009 Black Saturday fires],” he said.

“They’ll be there for the next few days but the plan is that they’ll leave their vehicles up at Penrith and then we’ll just fly in replacement crews for the next two to three weeks, depending on what the NSW Rural Fire Services wants.”