What We do

Earthquake Response

Earthquakes are one of the most significant disasters that strike the nation. We drill regularly on search and rescue techniques in damaged buildings and rescuing casualties from difficult locations. We also train in dealing with mass casualty situations through triage and first aid where the number of injured people is far greater than the team can handle, focusing on getting as many people to safety in the shortest amount of time.

We had team members deployed to the Canterbury Earthquake 2011 and the Kaikoura Earthquake 2016 to support the response

Search and Rescue

Other than search and rescue during disasters, the team also train around land search and rescue techniques in urban and bush environments. We are able to assist the NZ Police and Land Search & Rescue on callouts, which are predominantly searches for missing persons.

In the recent years, team members have provided assistance on missing person incidents when the searches have widened to areas that require a large amount of personnel to canvas.

Storm Response

Severe storms frequently affect the Auckland Region. Our training around storm response increases our technical capability to support our city through adverse weather events. Activities during storms could include securing damaged buildings and structures, sand bagging, chainsaw-ing fallen tress, and tarping damaged roofs with working at heights and rope use training.

Recent storm event deployments have included Hobson Ville Tornado, Henderson Weather Event, Mission Bay inundation, Clarkes Beach flooding and April 2018 Storms. Most recently the Papatoetoe Tornado where the team helped the residents in clearing up after a intense tornado that left 63 homes uninhabitable and one person dead.

Tsunami Response

Generally tsunamis occur after an earthquake is detected, and we often have some time to prepare. Our team is ready to be deployed to vulnerable areas of the region to help coordinate and evacuate people in the event of a tsunami threat. Our team members are trained in radio operations, and can assist in setting up repeaters for communication with civil defense centers and rural areas. Our team is trained in working around flood water, pumping flooded buildings, search and rescue, so we can readily response to the post tsunami event scene

Flood Response

The danger of severe storms, coastal inundation, and tsunami increases the risks of flooding in Auckland. We regularly train in flood response, understanding the hazards and keeping safe around moving water. We utilise appropriate Personal Protective Equipment that does not encumber movement when working around water, and we practice self rescue to control our risk when helping others in a flood.

We helped the community in the Edgecumb Flooding 2017, assessing flooded properties, moving people between flooded houses, and assisting evacuation.

We helped the residence of Kumeu after a flash flooding after intensive rain. Assessing flooded properties, moving people between flooded houses, and assisting evacuation.

Pandemic Response

While most team members are trained up to pre-hospital emergency care, we have been supporting the community and Auckland Emergency Management through the Covid-19 pandemic around welfare. The Covid-19 pandemic was a nationally declared civil defense emergency, so while most of the country was staying at home, the team was deemed an essential service and supported the welfare focused response with food deliveries to vulnerable families.

Biosecurity Response

Pest incursions from other countries are of serious concern for our country, especially for conservation and our agriculture production. Auckland is New Zealand's largest commercial port, with a high risk. Some large biosecurity operations require significant man power and our team is able to assist with our experience and skills on incident management and response.

Some team members spent many days assisting the Ministry of Primary Industries Queensland Fruit Fly response in 2019.

Welfare Support

Communities generally require a level of support in times of emergency or disasters, both during the event but also for recovery. Our teams are often tasked to undertake welfare checks on residents by door knocking, delivering welfare items including food and water, organizing and taking care of people, and could include running welfare or civil defense centers. Our team is also equipped with a team welfare trailer with food and water so the whole team can be deployed elsewhere and be self sufficient for days in an emergency.

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