The City of Yuma Technical Rescue Team exists to serve the citizens of Yuma and any area outside of the city, which requires these specialized services. Technical rescue consist of six disciplines, which exist outside the normal realm of emergency system response.

These disciplines include:

•Trench rescue                                        •Swift water rescue
•Confined space rescue                       •Palm tree rescue
•Rope rescue                                          •Building collapse

The Technical Rescue Team has 24 members. All TRT members have advanced training in all of the disciplines involved. These members are certified in a national standard for this type of rescue.

The COYFD has all of the necessary specialized equipment to perform these tasks. The equipment includes a USAR type heavy rescue vehicle that contains all of the needed equipment and supplies to shore up a collapsed building, or rescue a stranded climber from the edge of a cliff. The department also has jet skis and a Zodiac watercraft, to perform rescues on the water. These water rescues can range from locating a lost swimmer, to affecting a rescue in less than optimal circumstances.


The technical rescue is typically a high risk and low occurrence event. The team members' obligations include, not only staying up to date on the latest techniques, and training for the worst case scenarios, but to maintain the complex, and vast equipment, that is needed for these tasks.

Our Technical Rescue Team is prepared to rescue a worker in a collapsed trench, or respond to a collapsed building in another city. Fire departments have always strived to fill the gap, and perform a job that no one else has the ability or training to do. TRT is an example of this need.