Rescue courses are advertised internally within the Service. Rescue courses are run on a needs basis in response to staffing needs at the fourteen designated rescue stations. Qualified Paramedics, who have successfully completed their clinical training and consolidated this training with at least three years of operational experience, are invited to submit an application. If they are successful they then proceed to a practical aptitude test, then an interview and then a medical. Applicants are selected according to merit and applicants are given credit for their experience, qualifications, and service record, and their performance in each of the selection stages. It is a competitive process and the standard of selected applicants is high.

                                            

Officers are then placed onto a Rescue Operators Course, this course, run by the Rescue Training Unit in Sydney, is of eight weeks duration with approximately 440 hours of theory and practical lessons, assessments and exams. On successful completion of the course they are accredited by the State Rescue Board for General Land Rescue in the following areas:

• Industrial and Domestic Rescue
• Technical Rescue involving machinery
• Vertical Rescue including Single Rope decent and ascent and hauling using edge devices (to assist with placing an operator safely over the cliff edge for example), Swift Water and Raft Rescue
• Motor Vehicle Rescue (training on car wrecks within given scenarios)
• Confined Space Rescue (Storm Water Drains, Pits, or any area that has poor ventilation)
• Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
• 4WD
• Chemical, Biological and Radiological and Fully Encapsulated (CBR/FE),
• Breathing Apparatus (BA)
• Bush navigation and bush craft
• Trench rescue (where a trench has collapsed on a worker)

Rescue officers are also trained in the use of a wide range of tools such as hand, hydraulic, air and power tools to assist with the rescue of both human and animals at risk.

These rescue skills and clinical skills are kept current through a re-certification and formal training program. The Service sets a biannual, five day assessment period for each specialist skill set, whether it be Rescue, Intensive Care or Advanced Life Support Paramedic, SCAT (Special Casualty Access Team) or Helicopter crew member. In addition to re-certification, Rescue Officers are required to attend regular training sessions – a minimum of 24 training hours over each six month period for both general land rescue and vertical rescue.

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