Victoria State Emergency Service

Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) is a volunteer-based organisation responding to natural disasters and working to ensure the safety of communities around Victoria, Australia. Each State and territory of Australia has its own independent State Emergency Service (SES), and VICSES is only one of these services spread across Australia. At times of great need or catastrophic disaster, it is common that assistance be sought from other states.

VICSES is the lead agency when responding to floods, storms, landslides; tsunami, earthquakes, and incidents involving building damage, as well as operating the largest network of road rescue units in Australia and one of the largest in the world.

VICSES also provides assistance to other emergency services such as Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, The Country Fire Authority (CFA), Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) and to municipal councils in support of their emergency management plans.

There are more than 5,000 volunteers and 220 employees spread across 155 units.

Control Agency

 * Storm
 * Flood
 * Tsunami
 * Earthquake
 * Landslide
 * incidents involving building damage
 * rescue incidents involving rail, aircraft and industrial (as per State Road Crash Rescue Arrangements 2023)

Support agency

 * Country Fire Authority (CFA)
 * Victoria Police (VICPOL)
 * Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) [Previously known as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB)]
 * Ambulance Victoria (AV)
 * Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)

Activities
In addition to its control agency functions, VICSES has a shared responsibility for rescues with the CFA and FRV.

VICSES along with other emergency services in Victoria, provide specialist response functions including:


 * Road Rescue
 * High Angle Rescue
 * Industrial Rescue
 * Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
 * Search and Rescue (SAR)
 * Alpine Search and Rescue (ASAR)
 * Land Based Swift Water Rescue (LBSWR)
 * Marine Search and Rescue (MSAR)
 * General Land Rescue

VICSES is also called upon to assist other agencies with unique tasks, some include:


 * Victoria Police
 * Crime scene preservation
 * Evidence search
 * General assistance (lighting, temporary power, ladders, etc.).
 * Ambulance Victoria
 * Assist with patient carry-outs
 * Assist paramedics in difficult terrain (4WD/ATV/BOAT)
 * Country Fire Authority
 * Staging area management
 * Incident Management
 * Environmental Protection Authority
 * Deployment of air quality monitoring equipment

Regions
VICSES is broken into 2 regions that cover the state of Victoria. The SES Units are supported by Unit Support Teams (UST) with career personnel.


 * East Region
 * Unit Support Teams in Bayside, Eastern Metro, East Gippsland, Goulburn Broken, North East, Southern Metro, West Gippsland
 * West Region
 * Unit Support Teams in Barwon, Loddon, Mallee, Mid West, North West Metro, South West, Wimmera

Passenger Vehicles
Cars include a mixture of Ford, Holden, Subaru, Kia and Toyota

Mini-Van

Four Wheel Drives
Mixture of Nissan Patrol, Navara, Pathfinder, Ford Rangers, Everest & Toyota Hilux

Light Rescue
Mixture of chassis Ford, Mercedes & Iveco

Medium Rescue (2WD)
Equipment Body:


 * 5 large and 3 smaller lockers, with 3 x shadow boards for the storage of tools, 5 x sliding shelves and,
 * 4 x slide and tilt shelves (including LED locker lighting).
 * Light mast (up to 7.5m from ground) with 4 x 100W 24V LED lights (output 10,479 Lm per light).
 * External work lights at the mid point of the body, controlled by the Hazard SLIC panel.
 * Martin power supply system capacity of 8 kVA with 8 x 10A GPO’s.
 * Compressed air system delivering 10 Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) at 116psi.
 * Bulbar fitted with HID driving lights.
 * No tow bar fitted.

Equipment Capabilities:


 * Up to 1,000kg of tools and equipment
 * Multi purpose truck, i.e. capacity for storm and flood or RCR equipment.

Licence Requirements:


 * Light Rigid Licence



Medium Rescue (4WD)
Equipment Body:


 * 5 large and 3 smaller lockers, with 3 x shadow boards for the storage of tools, 5 x sliding shelves and,
 * 4 x slide and tilt shelves (including LED locker lighting).
 * Light mast (up to 7.5m from ground) with 4 x 24V LED lights.
 * External work lights at the mid point of the body, controlled by the Hazard SLIC panel.
 * Martin power supply system - capacity of 8 kVA with 8 x 10A GPO’s.
 * Compressed air system delivering 10 Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) at 116psi.
 * Bulbar fitted with 15,000lb, 24v winch & HID driving lights
 * No tow bar fitted.

Equipment Capabilities:


 * Up to 1,000kg of tools and equipment
 * Multi purpose truck, i.e. capacity for RAIR, Storm and Flood equipment.

Licence Requirements:


 * Light Rigid Licence

Heavy Rescue Truck (2WD)
Equipment Body:


 * 7 large and 1 smaller lockers, with 3 x shadow boards for the storage of tools, 5 x sliding shelves and
 * 8 x fixed shelving, 4 x slide and tilt shelves (including locker lighting).
 * Light mast (up to 7.5m from ground) with 4 x 24v LED lights.
 * External work lights at the mid point of the body, controlled by the Hazard SLIC panel.
 * Martin power supply of 8kVA with 8 x 10A GPO.
 * Compressed air system delivering 15 cubic feet per minute (CFM) at 130psi.
 * Bull bar fitted with HID driving lights
 * No tow bar fitted

Equipment Capabilities:


 * Up to 2,000kg of tools and equipment
 * RAIR purpose truck, i.e. capacity RAIR and storm or flood equipment.

Licence Requirements:


 * Medium Rigid Licence

Boats
IRB's

Lighting Towers
Genie AL6-6000


 * 8.40 m extended mast height
 * 2.45 m long (drawbar retracted)
 * Kubota D1403 diesel10.7 kW @1500rpm

AllightSykes URBAN MLLED200K-9AC-K


 * 9-meter mast design
 * LED's 4 x 500 watt
 * 200,000 lumens
 * Kubota D905 Diesel Engine
 * 100km/h Wind Speed Rated

Volunteers Association
Volunteers and Units are represented by the Victoria State Emergency Service Volunteers Association (VICSESVA) which was formed in 1983.

The Association's role is to advocate for VICSES volunteers by raising issues that impact on skills, training, funding, equipment, ethics & safety. VICSESVA is a non-profit association run and managed by VICSES Volunteers.