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Rappel Crews are teams of specialist DSE firefighters that ‘abseil’ or rappel down ropes from a
hovering medium helicopter to the ground. This technique enables DSE firefighters to access fires in remote
forest/wilderness areas of Victoria where there are generally no clearings available to land a helicopter.
Once the crew has rappelled to the ground, specialised firefighting equipment is lowered from the
helicopter to the ground. The helicopter is also equipped with a belly tank or bucket, which can be
used to assist the ground crew by bombing the fire with water or foam.
DSE currently has four, seven person rappel crews employed during the fire season (December to April),
based at Heyfield (2) and Ovens (2) for operations in the forested and Alpine areas of Gippsland and North East
Victoria. The Rappel Crews are trained and coordinated by the SAU.
View footage of a crew rapelling dropping from a hovering medium helicopter.
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