Volunteering in Emergency Services

Emergency services volunteers make an enormous contribution to NSW. Without these volunteers many people may have lost their lives, their homes or have taken much longer to get back on their feet after being involved in a natural or man made disaster.

Emergency services volunteers can be directly involved in emergency management such as fire fighting or provide one of the many back up activities to emergency personnel such as catering, communications or administration.

Emergency services volunteer opportunities include:

First Aid Assistance

St Johns Ambulance and the Red Cross provide training to first aid volunteers.

The Ambulance Service of NSW  works with over 130 Honorary Ambulance Officers who, along with paid staff, provide first aid to the sick and injured as well as first aid response to incidents in remote areas of NSW.

Fire Fighting

The Rural Fire Service and NSW Fire Brigades rely on volunteer fire fighters. The Rural Fire Service has over 70,000 volunteer firefighters across the state who attend bushfires and other natural disasters or who perform a range of supporting roles such as communications, education, logistics or catering. Community fire units are trained and organised by the NSW Fire Brigades. The units are volunteer teams of local residents trained to safeguard homes during a bushfire until the fire brigade arrives.

NSW Police Force

Volunteers in Policing (VIPs) provide a range of administrative voluntary tasks which are not competitive with established police roles. 

The NSW Police Force have has some 800 VIPs performing duties at 120 locations across the state. VIPs assist Police in victim support, customer service, supporting witnesses in attending court and in the promotion of crime prevention initiatives including maintenance of local community registers.

Surf Life Saving

Surf Life Saving is a very popular volunteer movement in NSW and across Australia. Surf Life Savers are trained volunteers who provide beach patrols and first aid and learn surf skills during the swimming season. They work through surf life saving clubs which operate up and down the coast of NSW. You don’t have to be a lifeguard to join the surf life saving movement. There are plenty of opportunities to help out club operations in areas such as coaching, education, marketing, finance and administration.

State Emergency Services

The State Emergency Service has more than 10,000 volunteers based at  228 locations throughout NSW.  These volunteers assist their communities during floods, storms and other emergencies.

Volunteer Rescue Organisations

In New South Wales there are three volunteer rescue organisations involved in a range of activities along the coastline and throughout the state.  They are:

• Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol (RVCP)
• Australian Volunteer Coastguard (AVCG)
• Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA). 

These organisations are registered companies, are comprised primarily of volunteers and are funded from internal and external sources.

All three voluntary organisations provide assistance to the boating community, including education, rescue and general assistance on the water.  They also provide theoretical and practical instruction on seamanship subjects and boat handling. In addition to marine rescue, the Volunteer Rescue Association also respond to road crash and vertical rescues.

The RVCP has 25 bases at various coastal locations. The AVCG has three Squadron areas, in northern NSW, Sydney and Illawarra on the south coast. The VRA has fourteen bases throughout NSW.