Emergency service

Police and fire services responding to a traffic accident in Ohio

Emergency telephone in New York City

Emergency services and rescue services^[1] are organizations which ensure public safety and health by addressing different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities. Many of these agencies engage in community awareness and prevention programs to help the public avoid, detect, and report emergencies effectively.

There are three primary emergency services that can be summoned directly by the public:

• Police — law enforcement, criminal investigation, and maintenance of public order. There are a variety of law enforcement agencies that conduct law enforcement. In the United States, there are State Police and Highway Patrol agencies, Municipal and County police and Sheriff agencies as well as other law enforcement agencies.
• Fire and Rescue Services — fire suppression, technical rescue, and hazardous materials mitigation. These services are provided to those who need help during any type of emergency. Some Fire and Rescue services agencies also provide emergency medical services.
• EMS or Ambulance — emergency medical services and technical rescue. Emergency Medical Services agencies and Technical Rescue services agencies are responsible for immediate response to medical emergency calls as well as specialized rescue services calls. Many emergency medical services agencies in the United States operate technical rescue services vehicles and equipment and work to help those who need rescue assistance.

Emergency services have one or more dedicated emergency telephone numbers reserved for critical emergency calls. In some countries, one number is used for all the emergency services (e.g. 911 in the Americas, 999 in the UK, 112 in continental Europe, 000 in Australia). In some countries, each emergency service has its own emergency number. Some fire departments provide emergency medical services along with their primary services.

The availability of emergency services depends very heavily on location, and may in some cases also rely on the recipient giving payment or holding suitable insurance or other surety for receiving the service.

Specialized emergency services

[AUS] Victorian Police Ford Ranger Prisoner Transport 'Divi Van'

These services can be provided by one of the core services or by a separate government or private body.

• Emergency management — incident management and coordination.
• Tactical teams (e.g. SWAT) — hostage rescue and counter-terrorism operations and high-risk arrests along with self-defense training to civilians.
• Hazardous Devices Team/Public Safety Bomb Disposal
• Public Safety Dive Teams/Maritime Units
• Canine Units — drug detection, explosive detection, cadaver detection, arson and accelerant detection, search and rescue, evidence search, suspect apprehension, and handler protection.
• Aviation Units — law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical services and technical rescue, and emergency management functions.
• Fire fighting Units
• Hazardous Materials — hazardous materials mitigation
• Search and Rescue Responds to emergencies where there is someone in need of assistance
• Mountain rescue
• Cave rescue
• Coastguard responds to emergencies on the ocean and in large bodies of water, often also providing law enforcement
• Wildland firefighting
• Military
• Incident response team
• Corrections Officers that work at prisons and jails enforcing prison rules, and working with prisoners.
• Community services

Other emergency services

Multiple emergency services work together on the scene of a severe multi-vehicle accident in Vaughan, Ontario

These groups and organizations respond to emergencies and provide other safety-related services either as a part of their on-the-job duties, as part of the main mission of their business or concern, or as part of their hobbies.

• Public utilities — safeguarding gas, electricity and water, which are all potentially hazardous if infrastructure fails
• Public Works — assessing and repairing damage to buildings, roads, and bridges; clearing, removing, and disposing of debris from public spaces; restoring utility services; and managing emergency traffic.
• Emergency road service — provide repair or recovery for disabled or crashed vehicles
• Civilian Traffic Officers — such as operated by Highways England in the UK to facilitate clearup and traffic flow at road traffic collisions
• Emergency social services
• Community emergency response teams — help organize facilities such as rest centers during large emergencies
• Disaster relief — such as services provided by the Red Cross and Salvation Army
• Famine relief teams
• Tow truck Tows damaged vehicles away from scenes and responds to broken down vehicles and wrecks.
• Amateur radio communications groups — provide communications support during emergencies
• Poison Control — providing specialist support for poisoning
• Animal control — can assist or lead response to emergencies involving animals
• Voluntary medical services — medical & first aid support. Providers of these services include: St. John Ambulance / Red Cross / Order of Malta Ambulance Corps.
• Insurance damage: fixes flooded and fire damaged buildings.
• Tri- service: these units respond to police, medical and fire incidents.
• National Guard- Division of the military working with the homeland
• Coroner responds to incidents with death and investigates corpses
• Zookeepers

Location-specific emergency services

Some locations have emergency services dedicated to them, and whilst this does not necessarily preclude employees using their skills outside this area (or be used to support other emergency services outside their area), they are primarily focused on the safety or security of a given geographical place.

• Lifeguards — charged with reacting to emergencies within their own given remit area, usually a pool, beach or open water area
• Park rangers — looking after many emergencies within their given area, including fire, medical and security issues
• Ski patrol — provides emergency medical care and rescue services within their area, such as a ski resort or backcountry.
• Security guards — protect assets (property, people, etc.) from hazards and enforce security procedures.
• First aid or medic — respond to medical issues and may be hired for businesses or events

Cooperation

EPA staff coordinate with local agencies in 2014 environmental disaster simulation

Effective emergency service management requires agencies from many different services to work closely together and to have open lines of communication. Most services do, or should, have procedures and liaisons in place to ensure this, although absence of these can be severely detrimental to good working. There can sometimes be tension between services for a number of other reasons, including professional versus voluntary crew members, or simply based on area or division. To aid effective communications, different services may share common practices and protocol for certain large-scale emergencies. In the UK, commonly used shared protocols include CHALET and ETHANE while in the US, the Department of Homeland Security has called for nationwide implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS),^[2] of which the Incident Command System (ICS) is a part.^[3]

Response time

A common measurement in benchmarking the efficacy of emergency services is response time, the amount of time that it takes for emergency responders to arrive at the scene of an incident after the emergency response system was activated. Due to the nature of emergencies, fast response times are often a crucial component of the emergency service system.^[7]

See also

Sources