OTTAWA -- Another 69 Canadians are heading to Australia this week to help fight the country's worst bush fires in recent memory.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the deployment comes after Australia asked for more help.

More than 200 bush fires continue to rage across Australia, with the two most populated states of New South Wales and Victoria bearing the brunt of the damage.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says 27 incident management staff will leave for Melbourne Thursday, followed by two more incident managers and 40 firefighters on the weekend.

This is the sixth wave of Canadians helping out in Australia, bringing the total number to more than 160 people.

The first group of 21 experts left for Australia in early December, and returned to Canada last week.