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DFES provides a wide range of vital search and rescue services across Western Australia (WA), on land, by sea and by air that ensure the safety of the community.
WA has a vast landscape, and our remote, inaccessible, and often harsh terrain can create a challenging environment for the dedicated people who undertake rescue missions every day.
Volunteer and career personnel help to deliver the search and rescue capabilities, often supporting of the types of searches that Western Australia Police Force is responsible for.
DFES also manages RAC Rescue, WA’s only dedicated emergency rescue helicopters. RAC Rescue responds to a broad range of emergencies, including road crash incidents and marine rescues.
DFES performs the rescue operations for the following search and rescue missions:
Road crashes cause significant injury and death, approximately 1,700 people are seriously injured and 175 people were killed on WA roads in 2022. Approximately two-thirds of WA’s road deaths take place in regional and remote areas.
DFES career and volunteer staff are trained to remove casualties from major road crashes using hydraulic rescue equipment and other specialised tools.
Firefighters are also trained to manage and contain hazardous materials such as poisons, flammable liquids and gases that may be released as a result of a vehicle crash.
The human cost of road crashes in WA is simply too high. We all have a role to play in reducing the number of road crashes and making our roads safer for everyone. For more information on staying safe on WA roads, visit the Road Safety Commission website.
RAC Rescue provides vital search and rescue and critical care medical services to the WA community 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The crew of RAC Rescue have rescued thousands of people since the service first began in 2003.
DFES is responsible for conducting searches and rescuing casualties from collapsed buildings, or collapsed landforms, such as cliffs, caves and sand piles. Many frontline firefighters and State Emergency Services volunteers are trained to search for, and rescue casualties from the surface of the rubble. More complex searches and rescues of casualties are performed by the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) taskforce who are equipped with and trained to use specialised search equipment and tunnelling, excavating, lifting and cutting equipment to locate and extricate trapped casualties underneath the rubble.
USAR Canine teams are skilled in the efficient and speedy location of trapped casualties. They are trained to work independently of their canine handler on unstable surfaces, in potentially dangerous situations.
In addition to their search and rescue work, USAR Canines also provide comfort and support to disaster survivors and first responders in the aftermath of a traumatic event. These courageous dogs are truly life-saving heroes, and we are proud to have them on our team.
Our USAR Canine capability is supplied by a team of volunteers integrated into the USAR Task Force. They regularly recruit handlers, trainers and support personnel.
State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers play a vital role in assisting the Western Australia Police Force in search and rescue operations across WA.
Working under the leadership of a SES volunteer Search Commander, volunteers conduct searches on foot, by bicycle, in vehicles including All Terrain Units and on water in flood boats when necessary. Search response can be supported by the Canine Unit with article and area scent tracker dog.
Volunteers commit considerable amounts of time to training courses and conduct exercises in the various disciplines in search including navigation, use of radios and search techniques. Volunteers can progress from Search Team Member to Search Team Leader and on to Search Commander.
In May 2023 a volunteer task force deployed to Cue to assist in the successful search for a male in his 70s lost in remote bush for 4 nights. In June 2023 volunteers were activated to searches across the metro area and to the Upper Great Southern region in a search for a missing 21-year-old female with a successful result on each occasion.
The Australian Search and Rescue Region covers approximately one nineth of the earth surface and extends far into the Indian Ocean off the WA coast. SES volunteers assist the Australian Maritime Safety Authority with search and rescue operations from the air as Air Search Observers (ASO) for land and sea searches. Operations are conducted from rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Response may be from reports of an overdue vessel or vehicle, a report of distress flares or by detection of an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). ASO training includes safety around aircraft, Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) and search operations. Searches can often be physically and mentally exhausting searching for persons lost at sea and assisting with identifying debris fields.
In May 2023 two teams of ASOs deployed to the Indian Ocean to assist with search for an upturned Chinese fishing vessel 2700 NM off the North West coast of Australia. The teams deployed for 4 days and overnighted in remote international locations.
Vertical rescue skills are used to rescue people trapped at heights or under ground level. This includes high-rise buildings, cliff faces and crevices, caves, mine shafts, wells, towers, masts and silos, and industrial settings.
Career firefighters and volunteers throughout WA are trained to undertake vertical rescues and provide specialist services responding to significant incidents that require abseiling skills.
The safety of the patient and rescuer is always the priority and all options for safe retrieval are considered prior to commencing a rescue. Depending on the location and situation, various techniques and specialised equipment may be used during a vertical rescue, including hauling systems, self-belay devices and mechanical advantage systems. In some cases, it may be necessary for the rescue team to abseil down to the patient to assess their condition and provide treatment prior to commencing the rescue. Once the person is rescued, they will be transported to a hospital for treatment if necessary.
All vertical rescues are planned and carried out using strict safety guidelines to ensure the safety of all involved.
With around 1500 volunteers, in 37 locations across Western Australia’s coast from Esperance to Wyndham, and backed by a fleet of 74 vessels, including 8 jet skis, Marine Rescue WA is a vital link in the WA’s coastal safety net.
Working closely with the Western Australia Police Force and other emergency services, Marine Rescue WA carry out many vital services, including:
In late December 2022, Tropical Cyclone Ellie crossed the Northern Territory coast and the subsequent tropical low settled over the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley. This led to the worst recorded flooding emergency Western Australia has ever experienced - cutting off communities and washing away critical transport routes.
In the immediate aftermath of the flooding, the USAR team was deployed to assess the devastating impact. Working alongside residents and traditional custodians, the USAR team conducted thorough evaluations of the damage, inspecting every part of impacted homes and providing thorough reports on the damage.
The floods left many homes inaccessible forcing USAR teams to trek through thick mud in difficult conditions, often carrying fresh water to be distributed to communities that had been cut off from supplies as a result of the flooding.
On 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, causing widespread damage and resulting in over 180 fatalities. In the aftermath of the disaster, international USAR teams were deployed to provide assistance. Among these was a team of six specialists from the DFES.
The DFES team arrived in Christchurch on 4 March and joined USAR teams from New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and China in the search for survivors and the provision of humanitarian assistance. The team worked long hours in challenging conditions, but their efforts were rewarded when they were able to assist in the rescue of four survivors from the wreckage of a collapsed building
Working alongside structural engineers, seismologists, geologists, construction workers, crane and digger operators and demolition experts, the USAR team undertook a range of activities while maintaining a state of preparedness to respond to further aftershocks.
They searched for missing persons, conducted primary and secondary risk assessments of buildings before re-habitation, undertook building marking, cordoning and demarcation of identified collapse zones and assisted police in retrieving personal belongings from damaged structures.
