It is made up almost entirely of volunteers, with 229 units located throughout the state. The units comprise of approximately 10,000 volunteer members, who are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls. While our core responsibilities are for flood, storm and tsunami operations, the NSW SES also provides support to general rescue efforts in the State. This includes Road Crash Rescue (
RCR), Vertical Rescue (VR), Urban Search and Rescue (USR), evidence searches (both metropolitan and rural) and other forms of specialist rescue that may be required due to local threats. Volunteers in a number of isolated communities have also been trained as Community First Responders by the Ambulance Service of New South Wales. The Service's trained rescuers also support the full-time emergency services during major disasters. The NSW SES assists other emergency services when they are performing major operations. These services include the NSW Police Force, the NSW Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Ambulance Service of NSW. The NSW SES also partners with local communities through Community Engagement programs like FloodSafe, StormSafe and TsunamiSafe. These programs are supported by strategies and resources, are delivered locally through a range of activities and events and are a priority for the NSW SES. The aim is to engage at-risk communities on preparedness, response and recovery measures so that there is no loss of life and impacts caused by these events are minimised. This in turn builds community resilience to floods, storms and tsunami. For further information visit the NSW SES website at http://www.ses.nsw.gov.au
