How to apply

To apply for one of our specialized teams, you need to be a member of an operational unit of the Civil Protection or of a fire department.

Relief teams with dogs

A dog relief team consists of a dog handler and a dog, deployed to trace and rescue persons buried under the rubble or missing persons.
A dog handler needs to meet the following conditions:

  • as a professional or as a volunteer, belong to a fire department or an operational unit of the Civil Protection
  • have his/her main residence in Belgium
  • be minimally 21 years old
  • provide a certificate of good behaviour that is less than maximally 3 months old
  • pass a medical examination carried out by a certified institution regarding industrial medicine
  • have a driving licence category B
  • provide a certificate that the vaccinations required are okay

The dog of the dog handler needs to meet the following conditions:

  • be maximally 5 years old at the time of the application by the candidate dog handler
  • may not be the object of a legal keeping ban
  • be the object of a certificate from a veterinary that the dog is in good shape. This certificate may not be older than 3 months
  • be the object of a certificate that the vaccinations required are okay
  • be in order with the identification, in accordance with the royal decree of 17/11/1994 that makes the identification of dogs obligatory
  • be the object of a certificate, issued by a university faculty for veterinary science, in which it is stated that the dog has no dysplasia D and E
  • pass a preceding test

You can apply for each of these specialized teams by filling out the application form for specialized teams. This is automatically sent to the adequate directorate. Thus, do not forget to tick the team of your choice.

USAR (Urban Search And Rescue)and B-FAST (Belgian First Aid and Support Team)

If you want to be part of  B-FAST USAR, you need to meet the following conditions:

  • Be part of a fire department or a unit of the Civil Protection (professional or volunteer)
  • Have at least a 3-year seniority
  • Have passed the medical examination by your industrial medical officer for participation in foreign USAR operations
  • Have a driving licence B
  • Have the approval of your chief and your local authority (bench of Aldermen)

The recruitment occurs on the basis of the needs and is communicated to all fire departments and the units of the Civil Protection. Individual recruitment after unsolicited application is not organized. However, you can report your interest through this application form for specialized teams.

The selection procedure is based on the CV, an interview and exams after the training ‘USAR rescue and salvage worker’ (+/- one week of theory and +/- one week of practical traineeship). On top of this, you need to follow a short basic training B-FAST of two days.

Once you are active within B-FAST, you are expected to be available regularly for participation in exercises, refresher courses and of course operations abroad.

The other modules within B-FAST DICa-DIR (High Capacity Pumping and CBRN detection and sampling) are only accessible for the personnel of the Civil Protection that has additionally followed  a basic training B-FAST. You can report your interest in this to your chief.