Rappel firefighters have wrapped up an fire season that saw them fight out-of-control bushfires in the Grampians and Otways
Elite abseiling firefighters from Forest Fire Management Victoria have wrapped their intense fire season after battling blazes more than 50 times, including in the Grampians and Otways.
Victoria
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Elite rappel firefighters have wrapped their intense 40th fire season, battling blazes with chainsaws and axes as they jump from helicopters.
Hailing from Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) the highly-skilled abseiling firefighters were dispatched more than 50 times since September to combat bushfires in the state, including in the Grampians and Otways.
But as the state’s bushfire season wraps up and fire restrictions start to lift the agency is warning that unseasonably warm autumn weather over the Easter long weekend could exacerbate the risk from campfires.
FFMVic chief officer Chris Hardman said his organisation has responded to almost 300 incidents involving campfires this season, including an illegal campfire that sparked the massive Grampians bushfire.
“Campfires that escape are a big problem in Victoria,” Mr Hardman said.
He warned that fire pits can rapidly become full-blown bushfires.
While restrictions have started lifting in some parts of the state, they remain in place in many region due to dry autumnal conditions and unpredictable fire behaviour.
FFMVic is the agency responsible for bushfires in state forests and national parks and often directs the response to long-running fires.
Autumn typically gives its crews the chance to conduct planned burns, but dry conditions and strong winds delayed the start to fire management in parts of the state.
The key to FFMVic’s strategy is to “keep fires small” which necessitates an “aggressive, thorough and determined” first attack, Mr Hardman said.
But because Victoria has some particularly remote areas such as the Great Dividing Range a rapid response can be difficult for typical vehicle crews.
To combat this the agency operates with rappel firefighters who abseil into the state’s remote areas and use chainsaws and hand tools to conduct “dry firefighting”.
Mr Hardman said FFMVic firefighters can rapidly respond and aggressively attack emerging bushfires.
“When a fire is detected, they will fly up in a helicopter and they’ll drop out of the helicopter on ropes to the forest.”
The firefighters will fell dangerous trees with chainsaws and split them open with axes to stop potential bushfires.
Bryan Rees is FFMVic’s senior aviation operations officer and has been involved in the program for its full 40 years.
He said that the rappel firefighters are “quiet achievers” as “people don’t hear about rappelling much because if the rappellers do their job the fires don’t get out”.
“There’s no big noise about the fires that they work on because they do their job. They get them out and they go home. So the program’s been largely overlooked for years because it is very successful.”
By getting to fires rapidly the firefighters are able to prevent them growing and spreading said Brodie Leticq, who has been a rappel firefighter for nine seasons.
“That’s our main purpose and some of our most challenging fires do come from those remote areas, because you just can’t get to them,” Mr Leticq said.
“They’re not an issue until they are on those bad days. That’s what we’re there for.”
Rappel firefighters are some of the most experienced in the state, all starting as general firefighters before taking to the sky.
FFMVic is ramping up to start recruitment of seasonal firefighters in July, ahead of the next fire season.
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Originally published as Rappel firefighters have wrapped up an fire season that saw them fight out-of-control bushfires in the Grampians and Otways
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