Toronto (CAN-TF3) Heavy Urban Search and Rescue

Last updated
Heavy Urban Search and Rescue / Canada Task Force 3
Agency overview
Formed2001
Preceding agency
Jurisdiction Toronto
HeadquartersToronto
Employees130
Annual budgetCAD $500,000 (2018)
Agency executive
  • Matthew Pegg, Fire Chief, Toronto Fire Services
Child agency
  • Toronto Fire Hazmat Team
Website HUSAR

HUSAR is the Toronto Heavy Urban Search and Rescue unit CAN-TF3 - an urban search and rescue unit able to respond to disaster situations at a city, provincial and national level, as well as offer international assistance.

Contents

CAN-TF3 is operated by Toronto Fire Services, in collaboration with Toronto Police Service and Toronto EMS created to deal with search and rescue operations in the City of Toronto. [1] This specialized unit was created following the September 11 attacks in New York City, United States and allows the city to deal with large-scale disasters. The unit can respond to situations outside of the city, and offer provincial, national, as well as international assistance.

The cities of Vancouver, [2] Calgary, [3] and the province of Manitoba, also currently have, or are developing, similar interoperable Heavy USAR capacity. [4]

Roles and responsibilities

Equipment

Product list and details
Make/ModelTypePurposeOrigin
Ford F250vanOSU-1 Search & Communicationsex-Toronto Paramedic Services 927 Type 2 ambulance
Ford F600/Dependable Emergency EquipmenttruckOSU-2 Incident Support Unitex-East York Fire Department Rescue # 2
Ford Louisville 9000tractor and trailerOSU-3 Base of Operationsex-commercial trailer
1990s Volvo VHDroll on-off truckOSU-4 (Shoring Unit)ex-City of Toronto Works Department truck
Ford 3500 seriesbusOSU-5 Search Dog Unitex-school bus
Western Star CNVtractor and trailerOSU-6 Rescue Unitex-pop deliver truck
Princeton Piggyback/BIC HydraulicsAll Terrain ForkliftSupport Units
Argo ResponseATVall terrain transport
John Deere Gator TH 6X4ATVfield transport
MCI 102 Highway Coachbuspersonnel transportex-GO Transit bus

Deployments

A list of major deployments of CAN-TF3:

See also

Other similar units

Related Research Articles

References

  1. "HUSAR". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
  2. Harrington, Jeff (2015-05-02). "Vancouver's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team disappointed it's not in Nepal". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  3. "Canada Task Force 2". Archived from the original on 2024-03-25. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  4. "Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR)" Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine , Public Safety Canada
  5. "Enbridge fined in fatal 2003 explosion | CityNews". www.citytv.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2022.