BRH Search and Rescue

The BRH’s (BRH Search and Rescue) foreign activities are divided into two areas:

1. Foreign missions in Europe as part of aid from mostly neighbouring German federal states, including as part of bilateral agreements or missions of the German Emergency Services. These are generally completed through the manpower of local, regional, or national BRH rescue dog squadrons.

2. International missions in major disasters under a UN mandate. These are completed by members of the BRH foreign squad under the umbrella of I.S.A.R. Germany. I.S.A.R. Germany, a group of rescue specialists from various fire departments and aid agencies of the Federal Republic of Germany, is a medium team accredited with the UN agency OCHA and classified according to INSARAG guidelines.

At the moment only the Federal Agency for Technical Relief is represented in Germany with a heavy team, and I.S.A.R. Germany with a medium team of classified USAR units. All classified teams must undergo a recertification by a UN classifier at five-year intervals. The recertification of the medium team of I.S.A.R. Germany was made in 2012 and achieved the world's best rating ever expressed at a classification.

The history of the BRH’s missions abroad is relatively long. A foreign qualification test was introduced in 2002, in particular due to the experiences the Association was able to gain in the last 30 years. This has since helped in establishing specially educated and prepared teams to provide for the medium team of I.S.A.R. Germany. Here, the relevant reviews and basic training of qualified BRH members dispatched by all German BRH squadrons are carried out based on the international guidelines legislated by the UN in 1991.