Blacktown State Emergency Service is trained, dedicated and highly motivated volunteers serving the community of Blacktown during floods and storms.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) 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 comprise of approximately 10,000 volunteer members, who are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls.
While our major responsibilities are for flood and storm operations, the SES also provides the majority of general rescue effort in the rural parts of the state. This includes road accident 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. Volunteers in a number of isolated communities have 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 SES also assists other emergency services when they are performing major operations. These services include the NSW Police Force , the NSW Rural Fire Service , the Fire and Rescue NSW and the Ambulance Service of NSW .
The SES Story.
The State Emergency Services (as it was then known) was formed in April 1955, following disastrous floods across NSW that had caused substantial loss of life and massive damage to property. The government of the day recognised the need for a body of trained and disciplined volunteers with good local knowledge who would be available at short notice to help the community during such disasters.
Later the same year, in view of the tense world situation at the time, the government decided there was a need for a civil defence organisation in the event of a nuclear attack. In September 1955, the two organisations merged under the leadership of Major General (later Sir) Ivan Dougherty. The new organisation was known as Civil Defence.
In 1972, the State Emergency Services and Civil Defence Act was passed by Parliament. This Act remained in force until 1989, when it was replaced by the State Emergency Service Act.
Currently the State Emergency Service is the most versatile and widely used rescue and public safety organisation in New South Wales. Over 10,000 volunteers spread all around the state help their communities during emergencies.