SES History

The State Emergency Service in WA was set up in 1959, for the purpose of coping with civil disasters including fires, floods, cyclones, railway accidents, aircraft crashes, explosions and to search for lost persons. In 1961, the SES merged with the Civil Defence Organisation and was called the Civil Defence and Emergency Service. The units, were known as Local Volunteer Emergency Services units.

The numbers of Local Volunteer Emergency Services wore blue overalls with a black 'Rescue' patch and a webbing belt and were issued with a D^D knife was issued. Each member also carried a Man Pack which contained:

Multipurpose Saw Pliers
12m coil of Manilla Rope Triangular Bandage
Blanket Webbing Belts
Drilling Awl 2 Pennies (for phone calls)
Small Sledge Hammer Personal bits and pieces
Wire Hawser

In addition to that, they also caried part of a wooden extension ladder or part of a collapsible stretcher.

In 1974 the Civil Defence and Emergency Service of WA was renamed to The Western Australian State Emergency Service (WASES).
The headquarters for WASES was located in the Bunker at Belmont, which is still used as the SES Metropolitan Operations Centre today. The overalls were changed to orange and this was the start of the SES as we know it today.

Over the years from 1974 to the present, the SES has been managed by many different organisations including tghe Police and is now managed by DFES.
In Western Australia, DFES, in particular, SES has responsibility for the following:

Flood
Cyclone
Storm
Earthquake
Tsunami

SES is a Combat Agency for:

Vehicle Rescue (in specified areas)
Land Search
Cliff/Cave Rescue

The potential for each of these types of events to occur is likely throughout WA.
Many of them occur each year without too much notice. While many of these events are small in magnitude, we as rescue volunteers need to prepare ourselves for the potential of a big event, such as a major earthquake or tsunami.