Welcome to the State Emergency Service Tasmania

The State Emergency Service (SES) is a division of the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management. We are equipped to provide emergency response services for severe storms and floods, road crash rescue, and a range of other general rescue and community support roles through our volunteers.

We assist Tasmania Police in search and rescue operations, and play an important support role during major bushfires. We are the main adviser and facilitator for emergency management activities such as emergency management planning, risk management and the management of Tasmania’s Natural Disaster Resilience Program and Emergency Volunteer Fund.

Our work helps to make Tasmanian communities more resilient to natural disasters and to shape the future of the Tasmanian emergency management sector as a whole.

What We Do

We respond to many types of emergencies and provide assistance during severe storms and floods, in road crash rescue, search and rescue, and a range of other general rescue activities.

We also support other emergency service organisations, in planning, public information and warnings, and media. Each of Tasmania’s SES units provides a 24/7 response service to their local communities – which is only possible through the help of our volunteers.

In addition to operational activities, the SES is responsible for planning, emergency risk management and supporting recovery. We support our communities to better understand emergency events by:

helping them prepare for future emergencies
helping them to understand their role
increasing awareness of the role of SES and others

We provide advice to the state government, and to the State Emergency Management Committee and Regional Emergency Management Planning Groups. We also lead the state’s emergency management planning and emergency risk management work.