Emergency Services Sector

Ambulance The Emergency Services Sector (ESS) is a community of millions of highly-skilled, trained personnel, along with the physical and cyber resources, that provide a wide range of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery services during both day-to-day operations and incident response. The ESS includes geographically distributed facilities and equipment in both paid and volunteer capacities organized primarily at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government, such as city police departments and fire stations, county sheriff’s offices, Department of Defense police and fire departments, and town public works departments. The ESS also includes private sector resources, such as industrial fire departments, private security organizations, and private emergency medical services providers.

Sector Overview

The mission of the Emergency Services Sector is to save lives, protect property and the environment, assist communities impacted by disasters, and aid recovery during emergencies.

Five distinct disciplines compose the ESS, encompassing a wide range of emergency response functions and roles:

Law Enforcement
Fire and Emergency Services
Emergency Medical Services
Emergency Management
Public Works

The ESS also provides specialized emergency services through individual personnel and teams. These specialized capabilities may be found in one or more various disciplines, depending on the jurisdiction:

Tactical Teams (i.e., SWAT)
Hazardous Devices Team/Public Safety Bomb Disposal
Public Safety Dive Teams/Maritime Units
Canine Units
Aviation Units (i.e., police and medevac helicopters)
Hazardous Materials (i.e., HAZMAT)
Search and Rescue Teams
Public Safety Answering Points (i.e., 9-1-1 call centers)
Fusion Centers
Private Security Guard Forces
National Guard Civil Support

Sector-Specific Plan

The 2015 Emergency Services Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) 2013 risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector-Specific Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the Sector-Specific Agency for the Emergency Services Sector.

The ESS has dependencies and interdependencies with multiple critical infrastructure sectors and the National Response Framework's Emergency Support Functions, which provide assistance for both the operation and protection of ESS assets.