Last Wednesday, NSW SES Commissioner Murray Kear travelled to Brisbane with Fire Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) Commissioner Greg Mullins and Ambulance Service of NSW (ASNSW) Commissioner Mick Willis to observe the NSW Heavy USAR Task Force in action as they undertook the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) External Classification exercise.Throughout the 48-hour exercise, the Task Force was being assessed by a team of seven classifiers representing the United Nations (UN) against 200-plus criteria the NSW SES need to meet to achieve international accreditation as heavy urban search and rescue specialists.NSW SES Commissioner Murray Kear said: “I am very proud of the NSW SES Canine (K9) USAR team comprising Zoe Daly and K9 Jay Jay , Cathee Colbran and K9 Sooty , Graham Veitch and K9 Wellington and Adam Mobberley and K9 Boof . The SES members and their fantastic dogs did an amazing job.  During my time in Brisbane, and the pre-deployment events at the FRNSW site at Ingleburn, I constantly had people coming up to me and conveying how great the K9 team were to work with.”

“I would also like to thank the NSW SES USAR K9 Support Team who assisted in this activity – Robbie Landon, State Headquarters, Steve Austin USAR K9 Head Trainer (SWR), Slade Macklin USAR K9 Trainer (SWR), Marilyn McKenzie current K9 Handler (SWR) and support of other canine handlers currently attached to the Team such as Conner Tumulty and K9 Bam Bams.”

The accreditation is a significant achievement for both NSW and Australia in the field of urban search and rescue - it confirms that NSW is one of the most highly trained and best equipped USAR Task Forces in the world, with only three countries having two accredited Heavy Task Forces - the USA, Japan, and now Australia.

The NSW SES congratulates our two and four legged volunteers on their achievement.