The New South Wales State Emergency Service is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community. It is made up almost entirely of volunteers, with 228 units located throughout New South Wales. The units are composed of some 10,000 volunteer members, who are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls. The SES was established after the devastating Hunter Valley floods of 1955 by the NSW State Government.
While the major responsibilities of the NSW SES are for flood, tsunami and storm operations, it also provides the majority of general rescue effort in the rural parts of the state. This includes road crash rescue, vertical rescue, bush search and rescue, evidence searches (both metropolitan and rural) and other forms of specialist rescue that may be required due to local threats. The Service's trained rescuers also support the full-time emergency services during major disasters.
The NSW SES also assists other emergency services when they are performing major operations. These services include the New South Wales Police Force, the NSW Rural Fire Service, the New South Wales Fire Brigades and the Ambulance Service of New South Wales.
Contents |
The State Headquarters of the SES is located in Wollongong, with 17 region headquarters located across the state. Region boundaries are generally based on river catchments, reflecting that floods are a major part of their work. The boundaries for the SES's 228 units are based on local government boundaries.
SES volunteer units are managed by Unit Controllers. Where there is more than one unit in a local government area, or a number of units in close concentration or a single, large and busy unit, a Local Controller is appointed to oversee operations on a larger scale than at the indivudual unit but smaller scale than at the Regional Headquarters. Region offices are managed by a Region Controller. Offices also have a Deputy Region Controller, Learning and Development Officer, Business Services Manager and Administration Officer. Volunteers may also be attached to a region office.
The 17 regions are: Sydney Northern, Sydney Southern, Sydney Western, Illawarra South Coast, Hunter, Oxley, Clarence Nambucca, Richmond Tweed, Namoi, North West, Far West, Murray, Murrumbidgee, Central West, Southern Highlands, Lachlan, Macquarie.
The head of the SES is Commissioner Murray Kear AFSM. At a state level, Directors are responsible for key functional areas (Logistics, Operations, Human Services, Information Technology and Emergency Risk Management). All these positions are based at SES State Headquarters in Wollongong.
While the SES is a state-wide recognized emergency service and receives from the state government, primarily individual units receive funding from their local councils and from donations made by members of the public.