The glow of headlamps light up as teams prepare for the 2025 Victorian Mine Rescue Competition at Costerfield Mine, near Heathcote.
Hosted by the Mineral Councils of Australia, this annual event brings together rescue teams from Country Fire Authority, Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police and other organisations from across New South Wales and Tasmania to test their skills in high-pressure, real-world scenarios.
From fighting fires and performing rope rescues, to delivering first aid while in the mud, teams face a series of challenges designed to push their emergency response capabilities to the limit. The competition is an important training exercise to prepare rescue teams for the unpredictable nature of complex emergencies.
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Length:
03:11
Transcript:
Acting Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch: Well it's been great to see so many of our Emergency Management agencies come together here at Costerfield near Heathcote at this Mine Rescue Competition. We've had teams from CFA, Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police, along with industry groups and other Emergency Management agencies from Tasmania and New South Wales. These events are really critical to make sure that our agencies are prepared for these rare but catastrophic events that can occur and that they're learning from each other.
James Sorahan, Executive Director Mineral Councils of Australia in Victoria: Teams train in all the different scenarios that they have to have training in. So that includes fire, it includes underground search and rescue, it also includes breathing apparatus prac and also rope rescue. So these are the sorts of things they have to be trained in and and also road crash as well.They get assessed on first aid. We have doctors and Ambulance Victoria officers assessing that. So they get all of the different elements of training that they have to have tested over a two-day weekend.
Tom Heather, Rescue volunteer CFA: It brings all the rescue brigades together to you know catch up with one another,see where we're all at, sort of put us head to-head as who comes out on top but it also, we treat it as you know real life training, on the job training, so yeah different colours than usual. Normally in the orange, in the red but yeah definitely proud to be part of the CFA and expand out, show people what we can do and and what we're here for.
Josh King, Senior Team Manager, Ambulance Victoria: With Ambulance Victoria ,we're obviously an emergency medical provider not a rescue agency, so in a mine emergency we'll respond and provide medical support whilst assisting the teams that are doing the rescuing. So our representatives from Ambulance, CFA, SES, our adjudicators are all volunteers generally involved in other emergency services as well. And it's good for us as well so we get to watch these scenarios. We get to learn from them as well, I've already picked up a few things around rope rescue today, so it's really beneficial for us.
Charlotte Carlsen, Safety Officer, Stawell Gold Mine: So here we've turned up to a scene which is 'road crash rescue' which we've found one car turned on its side and then one buggy in a dam. Considering half our team had to be split, one to go over to one car and the other to go to the other, it's quite challenging. Also when you're dealing with water and having to have members getting submerged with it all slippery and stuff it's pretty, yeah, it was fun though. Lots of fun. The experiences that you get to do while you're at work to do these scenarios are never to this scale. You do get the training but it's nowhere near the same, so when you come to an event like this it's awesome to be able to, you know, meet these new people and build friendships with them, get their experience from what they're doing and you're also exposed to so many different scenarios because it's designed by different people. So you're getting to learn and see how other people are doing these rescues.
Acting Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch: Big thank you and shout out to all the volunteers and career staff, both from our normal agencies but also from industry, that have participated in the Mine Rescue Competition. In Victoria our VicEmergency app is all hazards for all communities and so we're encouraging you to download the VicEmergency app, make sure you know who your local broadcaster is and make sure that you're keeping up to date with all the warnings and information as emergencies occur.
[Download the VicEmergency App (External link) or visit emergency.vic.gov.au (External link)]
[Emergency Management Victoria logo]
[End transcript]
One of the standout moments is the fire rescue scenario, where teams have to think quickly, choose the right fire retardant and treat ‘injured’ workers all while enveloped in thick smoke.
The competition also provides an opportunity for mine rescue teams to work alongside emergency services, building stronger relationships and a deeper understanding of how different agencies coordinate in a crisis.
'These events are really critical to make sure that our agencies are prepared for these rare but catastrophic events that can occur – and that they’re learning from each other’ said Acting Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch.
The Victorian Mine Rescue Competition sends a key message: emergencies can happen at any time. By preparing, training and collaborating, we can achieve better outcomes when disaster strikes.
The department acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.