Emergency services are services that deal with emergencies.
The main emergency services include:
- the fire service and firefighters
- the emergency medical service consisting of ambulance servicess and paramedics / emergency medical technicians
- the police
- emergency operations, often managed by the fire service.
- maritime search and rescue services such as the local coastguard, lifeboat or surf lifesavers.
- mountain rescue teams
- mine rescue teams
- bomb disposal teams
- earthquake rescue teams, also known as urban search and rescue teams or heavy rescue teams
- famine relief teams
- Some regions therefore perform mass training of amateurs to cope with mass emergencies, in a program called community emergency response teams.
- In mass emergencies, coordination is crucial. This is usually provided by some form of emergency operations.
- The military can sometimes help in mass emergencies, although they can rarely mobilize quickly enough to make a significant difference, and often have incompatible doctrines.
See also:
- Emergency telephone number for more about 911, and other numbers such as 112.
- Emergency medical service
- Disaster relief
- Civil defense