Urban Search & Rescue

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West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service is a host Brigade of one of twenty strategically placed Urban Search & Rescue Teams (USAR) within England and Wales that have been provided under the government's New Dimension programme. The brigade has received specialist equipment, vehicles and training to help deal with a large scale incident which requires complex or technical rescues.

The provision of USAR resources can assist in the rescue of persons in the event of:

An emergency involving the collapse of a building or other structure.

An emergency involving a train, tram or aircraft which is likely to require a fire & rescue authority to use its resources beyond the scope of its day to day operations (e.g. a serious transport incident).
Any other emergency or non-emergency incident requiring the specialist skills and equipment of USAR.

The Team comprises of the following:

Three Primer Movers.
Five USAR demountable modules, each one containing specialised SAR equipment including technical search equipment, heavy breaching, breaking and cutting equipment, hydraulic and pneumatic lifting equipment and much more specialist rescue equipment to deal with incidents of a technical and complex nature.

USAR technicians which have received specialist training for this role at the Fire Service College in Gloucestershire.

The USAR team are based at Cleckheaton Fire Station which is central to the Yorkshire and Humberside region whereby it could be mobilised to be at an incident ground within 2 hours.