“We were hoping they were okay, we weren’t sure at that stage, [the owner] had tried to get down to them earlier but realised that it was far too dangerous, given the steep cliff,” Moore said.
Moore said the crews set up a line rescue plan and sent down experienced firefighter Gary Anderson to retrieve the uninjured dogs.
“They were fine down the bottom and from there we worked on bringing them up … they weren’t too happy about being stuck down there.”
Operating in the night added further difficulty to the rescue, he said.
Rocky and Stormy were uninjured by the fall. Photo / Supplied
Moore said the owner was relieved to be reunited with his dogs and the crew were proud of their efforts.
“It’s fantastic, we wouldn’t want to have left the dogs down there, especially when you’re unsure of what state they are in.
“It would be pretty hard to leave them there – that’s not something anyone wants to do at all.”
The rescue took a total of about five hours, with crews arriving back at the station around 11.30pm.
While rescuing the dogs, two separate calls needed to be attended in Whanganui.
“Line rescue jobs are quite labour-intensive, when the crews are sent out of town, we cover town with off-duty staff,” Moore said.
Moore said it is becoming “more and more common” to get other call-outs while occupied with another incident.
Those two calls would have gone unanswered had it not been for off-duty staff, some of whom had just worked a day shift, to leave their families and respond.
Moore said that is why the NZ Professional Firefighters Union [NZPFU] have launched a public petition for a full inquiry into Fire and Emergency.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.