The Toronto HUSAR project’s primary goal is to prepare and organize the city's resources and combined intervention capabilities in order to successfully mitigate a local disaster that requires a USAR capability. The Enhanced Emergency Preparedness Plan, which has come from the events of Sept 11th, has seen the establishment of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). OEM has a mandate to revise and update the Toronto Emergency Plan. This new plan will meet new challenges and the execution of the USAR capability, as well as other contingencies.

The project’s secondary goal is in the ability to create, train, equip, and maintain an organized Team of our own that would comply with the Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Canada definition of HUSAR as:

The location of trapped persons in collapsed structures using dogs and sophisticated search equipment; the use of heavy equipment such as cranes to remove debris; the work to breach, shore, remove and lift structural components; treatment and removal of victims; and the securing of partially or completely collapsed structures. These Teams are expected to be completely self-sufficient for 72 hours.

At all times, the Team will be at a pre-determined state of readiness. This readiness capability would allow the Team to be deployed quickly, react to changes in the incident quickly, and to be deployable within the city, province or country in 6 hours if/when required. As well, Toronto's HUSAR Team will be self-sufficient for 10 days.

Upon completion of a detailed deployment plan by all levels of government, Toronto HUSAR, in concert with the five designated National (Heavy) Teams, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Halifax, will be able to be deployed anywhere in Canada. At full readiness, the Teams will be available for deployment anywhere around the world to any area that requires our help. The capabilities of Toronto HUSAR will include, but are not limited to the following:

• Physical search and rescue operations in damaged/collapsed structures;

• Emergency medical care to the disaster response personnel;

• Emergency medical care to the injured;

• Reconnaissance to assess the damages and needs and provide feedback to local, provincial, and federal officials;

• Assessment of utilities to houses and buildings;

• Hazardous material surveys/evaluations;

• Structural/hazard evaluations of government/municipal buildings needed for immediate occupancy to support disaster relief operations;

• Stabilization of damaged structures, including shoring, cribbing operations on damaged buildings.