Fire Rescue Victoria safety warning after people spotted climbing on the Thunder Point cliff top

Fire Rescue Victoria's Troy Cleverley is urging people not to climb onto the cliffs at Thunder Point as rescues will take vital resources away from fighting fires.

It comes as people were spotted on the cliff edge on Saturday evening. Mr Cleverley said people needed to keep to the marked tracks and away from cliff edges.

"The cliff edges are highly unstable," he said. "No selfie is worth going over the edge for. Not only are people putting themselves at risk, they put rescuers in harm's way when having to retrieve them."

Mr Cleverley said Thunder Point was a difficult place to conduct a rescue due to a lack of rocks to bolster a rope to and the amount of shrubbery in the area.

"It's realistically going to depend on whether they've actually gone over the edge or gotten stranded part-way down and further to that if they've gone over the edge whether they've survived the fall or if it's a recovery (to retrieve the body)," he said.

He said it took at least an hour to rescue a person from the time FRV received the call for assistance. The fire officer said rescues were highly technical.

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"They are labour intensive and draw in a lot of resources especially in that sort of environment," he said.

He said Lake Gillear was another difficult area to rescue a person from, with the majority of rescues undertaken by FRV being at Halls Gap.

Mr Cleverley said FRV had 10 firefighters on each shift - including at least six qualified in rescues - with one vehicle fitted with equipment for rescues.

He said when all hands were on deck at a rescue, a pumper needed to be dispatched from Geelong - two hours away - to be on standby at the Warrnambool Fire Station.

"Suddenly there's no fire protection except for the Country Fire Authorirty (when FRV leaves)," he said.

"We can't leave the FRV district uncovered."

In 2020, a woman fell to her death at Boroka Lookout in the Grampians after taking a selfie then losing balance when she turned to walk back to her friends and children.

A Warrnambool City Council spokesman said timber walkways, rock walls and signs showed where it was safe to walk at Thunder Point.

"There is potential for cliff edges to be unstable and there are also risks posed by strong winds, rogue waves and simply tripping or slipping," he said.

"We encourage people to take care and enjoy views of our amazing coastline from defined vantage points."

In March 2013, a Melbourne woman in her 50s fell to her death at Thunder Point and more than 20 years ago a boy was injured when he fell from the cliff.

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