The New South Wales State Emergency Service (NSW SES), an agency of the Government of New South Wales, is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community in times of natural and man-made disasters. The NSW SES is made up almost entirely of volunteer members, numbering over 10,919 as of September 2023.[2] Members are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls.
From 1955 up until the 1970s the NSW SES was previously named the Civil Defence Service and is still in use up until today.
SES volunteers removing debris from Lake Albert, in 2010
The major responsibilities of the NSW SES are for flood (including Flood Rescue), tsunami and storm operations. The NSW SES also provides the majority of General Land Rescue effort in the rural parts of the state. This includes road crash rescue, vertical rescue, general 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.[16]
During the 22/23 Financial Year, NSW SES Personnel answered 113,722 calls at the State Operations Centre. Volunteers responded to 47,241 incidents, including 24,043 Storm damage incidents and 1,548 Flood Rescues.[2]
The State Headquarters (SHQ) of the NSW SES is located in Burelli Street, Wollongong.
At a state level, the NSW SES Commissioner leads the agency and has three deputy commissioners, who each lead a key area of the agency. Operations, Operational Capability & Training and Corporate Services.
Each deputy commissioner leads multiple directorates (Emergency Management, North & West Operations, Metro & South Operations, Operational Capability and Training, Operational Systems Program (Temporary), Flood Rescue Enhancement Program (Temporary), Information & Communications Technology, People & Development, Finance, Asset & Business Services, Elevate Program (Temporary) and Organisation Strategy, Planning & Performance).
Every directorate is led by a director, who has multiple senior managers reporting to them. Directors who lead a directorate which has direct operational responsibilities is appointed to the rank of assistant commissioner. All other directors do not hold an operational rank.
Zone level
The state is split up into seven zones (North Western, North Eastern, Northern, Metro, Western, Southern and South Eastern).
Each zone is led by a zone commander who reports to the assistant commissioner responsible for that Operational Area. Deputy zone commanders are also appointed and assigned a command area within that zone. The zone is also staffed with a range of operational and administrative support personnel, including roles such as: Operational Readiness, Volunteer Engagement, Business Services and Planning & Research. Zone staff work out of the Zone Headquarters (ZHQ).
Zones may also have capability units, whose purpose are to provide incident management and other specialised support to units. These capability units are often composed and lead by volunteers, operating directly under zone leadership.
In 2023, Commissioner Carlene York announced an investment into SES Facilities from the Government of New South Wales. As part of this investment, the SES created an additional two zones (North Western and North Eastern) in addition to its five existing zones, effectively splitting up the Northern and Western Zones into four zones.[18]
Prior 2 October 2018, the SES was composed of 17 regions, based on river catchment areas. This was inline with the NSW SES responsibility to manage flood events, however an analysis of the demands placed upon the service indicates that a more effective way to organise units would be based around areas which both reflected historic trends in terms of affected areas, and the distribution of the population across the state. This resulted in the formation of five zones as part of the organisational restructure project.
Dependent on factors such local operational demands, local Unit sizes, etc. Units can be grouped into Clusters. A cluster may contain 2-7 Units.
NSW SES Clusters are managed by a volunteer Local Commander. Local Commanders oversee operations at a scale between localised events which can be managed at a Unit Level, and larger scale events which require management at a Zone Level. Some Clusters may also, dependent on size and operational demands, have a Deputy Local Commander.
Each Cluster is a part of a Zone Command Area and report to one of the Deputy Zone Commanders.
Unit Level
There are 261 SES Units[2] forming the NSW SES. Most are based on the former local government boundaries prior to the 2013-2016 council amalgamations, although the NSW SES now also allows for the formation of Units which are not bound to geographic boundaries, such as the NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue Unit.
NSW SES Units are completely staffed by volunteers managed by volunteer Unit Commanders. In the case where the unit is not part of a cluster, and it has an assigned geographical area, the Unit Commander may also act as the Local Commander.[20]
Fleet
The bulk of SES vehicles used to be provided by the local council, as part of their contribution to the Local SES Units. More recently, however, funding from the Government of New South Wales has allowed for a standardised fleet of vehicles to be obtained for the SES. This has allowed the services to provide vehicles that are fit-for-task and reduce the average fleet age to under 20 years.[21]
In early 2023, the SES, working with the NSW Telco Authority and Motorola, started trialing the technology, becoming one of the first Emergency Service Agencies in New South Wales, to utilise the technology.[23]
Vehicle as a node utilises Motorola's SmartConnect technology to provide seamless connectivity for operational communications, even when there is no Public Safety Network (PSN) coverage. When outside of coverage of the PSN, SmartConnect utilises cellular (4G) and satellite connectivity to maintain operational communications.
By August 2023, there were over 1,300 vehicles across the SES and Fire and Rescue New South Wales Fleet now utilising the technology.[24] This provides the ability for SES crews to maintain operational communications regardless of their geographical location and surrounding topography. The Public Safety Network (PSN) only covers around 80% of the State.[25]
High Clearance Vehicles (HCV)
In June 2024, the SES was internationally recognised for its research, development and introduction of the nation's most advanced High Clearance vehicles into the Flood Rescue space. The SES was awarded the Special Commendation Award at the Higgins and Langley Memorial Awards in the United States.
These vehicles represent a significant enhancement of the Agency's Flood Rescue capabilities. The vehicles can travel in water up-to 1.2 metres deep, keep flood rescue operators safe whilst performing rescues. The Agency's latest vehicles include advanced features such as forward-scanning SONAR, front and rear hydraulic winches and a vehicle loading crane, which can be used to load rescue boats into the vehicle.
Rank and Insignia
In January 2018 the NSW State Emergency Service commenced a review of the rank and insignia structure within the organisation. Between October and December 2018 all members of the NSW State Emergency Service transitioned to the new rank structure.
The NSW SES receives funding primarily from the Government of New South Wales. Resources are often obtained through numerous grants provided by public and private entities.
^Community Relations Division, freecall 1800 685 449; Justice, NSW Department of. "Carlene York to become new SES Commissioner". www.justice.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 9 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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