State Emergency Service
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The State Emergency Service is an Australian volunteer organization that provides emergency help in floods, storms and other emergencies. Every state and territory in Australia has its own State (or Territory) Emergency Service, and there are 43,000 volunteers spread across the country.
Because every community is different, every SES Unit has a slightly different set of roles and activities. Depending on local needs, a Unit may perform some or all of these roles:
- General rescue procedures and skills -- working safely to remove people from dangerous situations
- Flood and storm preparation and response -- making structures safe after floods and storms, helping people prepare for floods and storms and using specialised equipment like flood boats and chainsaws
- Operations management -- helping to coordinate the activities of teams in the field
- Media, public relations and community education -- working with the media and the public to communicate safety messages and warnings and to promote the SES to the community
- Training coordination -- helping to plan and carry out the training in a Unit
- Vertical rescue -- rescuing people from heights and depths such as cliffs or ravines
- Road-crash rescue -- rescuing people from crashed vehicles
- Logistics -- helping to plan how to acquire, distribute and use resources during emergencies
- Management -- helping the Unit to run smoothly
- Emergency services liaison -- working with representatives of other emergency services during emergencies
External Links
- Australian Council of State Emergency Services (http://www.acses.org.au)
- Australian Capital Territory State Emergency Service (http://www.ses.act.gov.au)
- New South Wales State Emergency Service (http://www.ses.nsw.gov.au)
- Northern Territory Emergency Service (http://www.nt.gov.au/pfes/es/)
- Queensland State Emergency Service (http://www.emergency.qld.gov.au/ses/)
- South Australia State Emergency Service (http://www.sessa.asn.au)
- Tasmania State Emergency Service (http://www.ses.tas.gov.au)
- Victoria State Emergency Service (http://www.ses.vic.gov.au)
- VICSES Units Online (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sesunits/)
- Western Australia State Emergency Service (http://www.fesa.wa.gov.au)