The opening of Grampians Peak Trail has created some new challenges for emergency services

The 160km trail is a challenging 13-day, 12-night hiking experience through a variety of terrain in the Grampians National Park starting at Mt Zero in the north before reaching Dunkeld in the south.

With rescues of bushwalkers not an uncommon theme in the rugged terrain of the Grampians, the new trail comes with greater challenges for both tourists, and emergency personnel on the ground ready to assist where needed.

Leading Senior Constable Kellie Harris, Senior Constable Sarah Bartorelli and Senior Sergeant Tevis Wright spoke with Australian Community Media about the potential challenges faced as life as officers in the Halls Gap region.

Leading Senior Constable Harris said she had identified some areas of concern which she had worked through with Parks Victoria.

"The extent of points between some of the campsites, and some of the trailheads, certainly once you get south of Halls Gap - they are excessive in length," she said.

"There are also minimal four-wheel drive tracks - accessibility is tough.

"If there was an incident to occur, especially down south, it puts more pressure on us. Not only is there no four-wheel drive tracks but some of the walks will potentially be quite long.

"It goes hand-in-hand with once you reach the person, especially if it's in regards to an injury or medical event, it's critical to be able to get in there to make a decision on what would be the next step.

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"Those steps could include if we get HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) in or if they are available."

Leading Senior Constable Harris said the weather played an important role in critical decision making.

"It can be the difference between being able to get HEMS in or getting someone stretchered out," she said.

Senior Sergeant Wright said he could see access to technology through the dense bush could be a challenge his members would face on the ground.

"Society, in general, relies so much on technology these days such as mobile phones and GPS," he said.

"You don't have mobile coverage the whole way on the trek which could prove challenging to tourists that will need to follow maps.

"Parks Victoria has done a fantastic job to build the trail - they have a great platform for visitors to register their trip.

"We need to ensure people are doing that so for us knowing how many people could be on the trail at any one time is essential.

"While we have individual incidents where someone might roll an ankle or injure themselves there is also the potential for large scale evacuation, as an example, a large fire was coming through, then it would pose a significant challenge."

Leading Senior Constable Harris highlighted the process campers and hikers needed to follow to 'book' through Parks Victoria.

"All your overnight stays need to be booked through Parks Victoria but unfortunately there isn't an option for day-trips to register yet," she said.

"We have access to the overnight manifest if need be but potentially there could be twice as many people as we know about up on the trail.

"The ones who are doing the overnight stays are usually prepared - they are most likely going to be experienced hikers.

"The day-trippers and visitors are the ones who might just go see what it's like and are usually the ones who are unprepared - even for the smallest of hikes. The natural environment can be quite hazardous and visitors can quickly come undone if they haven't researched what they're in for."

Senior Sergeant Wright explained any emergency was divided up and directed by each agency who has responsibility for the incident.

"With any land-based search and rescue Victoria Police is the incident controller," he said.

"Our role is to control the response to the incident. It's about using and coordinating resources, to make sure the response is done safely and properly.

"We lead the response - but we lean heavily on the support agencies such as SES, CFA and Ambulance Victoria to provide the health response."

For more than three years, Victoria Police's search and rescue team have trained 10 members from the Northern Grampians region in navigation and map reading skills to support the Halls Gap officers.

Senior Sergeant Wright said officers in the region also undertook four-wheel driver training.

"The training is not the be-all and end-all but it's better than nothing," he said.

"It's so we have more confidence to go into a situation with skills to deliver a service and not put ourselves at risk.

"I know Ambulance Victoria has done some work in the rescue area, particularly at night.

"Just having those skills, across a number of different officers in the region, can provide the service required."

Senior Sergeant Wright said the nature of the work within the Grampians required a team to undertake the task.

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"It can be anything from a smaller incident to a campaign event, such as a search for a missing person which could go for a number of days you need more depth within the capacity of members," he said.

"We are sending our members out into the natural environment so those basic skills are really beneficial."

Leading Senior Constable Harris said the emergency makers throughout the Grampians were incredibly important.

"Gone are the days where people call up and say I'm lost in the Grampians and they don't know where they are," she said.

"Now we get told the last emergency marker they noticed so it's much easier to find where they are.

"We also have access to an app where you can punch in the emergency marker and it gives you a set of instructions from your location on how to access a point - such as going through locked gates and what key we will need.

"What we've also seen is when the markers were first introduced people didn't notice them and we were still getting a lot of jobs where they still didn't know where they were - but we're finding now a lot of people are using them. It's now a question that gets raised when someone calls 000 - it has taken some time but people are getting more aware."

Senior Sergeant Wright said prevention was better than cure.

"We want people to come to this part of the world and love it, just as we all do who live here," he said.

"We just want people to come prepared so they can visit safely. All the emergency services together with Parks Victoria do an amazing job to keep people safe. We would much rather people come and enjoy it safely and we see them on the ground in Halls Gap rather than on a trail needing our assistance."

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