The Werribee Gorge State Park became a classroom for firefighters from Ballarat and Warrnambool this week, as they completed a specialist wilderness high-angle rescue course.
The park, west of Ballan, is one of the closest natural rock climbing sites to Melbourne, and a definite hotspot for lost, stuck and injured hikers.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) personnel along with 12 firefighting students dangled from cliffs up to 40 metres high this week, including a series of popular rock climbs at Falcons Lookout, which is visible from the Western Freeway.
"This sort of rescue is not that unusual," Senior Station Officer Luke Shearer said.
"We had an outdoor rescue incident on the Yarrowee River the other night.
"We probably go to wilderness high-angle incidents like this once a month on average.
"Only nine FRV stations have the crews, training and equipment to do cliff rescues.
"We can get called out to Mount Arapiles, the Grampians or Werribee Gorge.
"They're the three most common places for us."
Mr Shearer said experience was not a factor in who got stuck, with "newbies" caught out as often as veteran rock climbers.
Another problem was adrenaline junkies with no safety equipment at all.
"We always work with police on these wilderness rescues," Mr Shearer said.
"They are the lead agency.
"The SES will often help out too, especially when you have to carry a casualty out."
The Werribee Gorge training involved seven instructors - many of them acting as patients who were lowered to safe areas on solid ground.
Mr Shearer said with heavy gear, the hike to the main rock climbing sites normally took 45 minutes.
"We've trained here before," he said.
"We've been working with Parks Victoria for 10 years now.
"They've been really good and so have the nearby landholders."
Mr Shearer said cliff rescues in the Brisbane Ranges National Park, south of Ballan, were generally covered by stations in Melbourne.
It complements an exercise at a malting factory in Delacombe on Tuesday where firefighters practised on and around a series of silos that were 10 metres high.
Mr Shearer Ballarat City and Lucas firefighters were called to two or three mine rescues a year. "Generally it's in warmer weather," he said.
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Gabrielle Hodson
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
