In 1995 the City of Vancouver, as part of an overall plan for emergency preparedness, implemented the development of an Urban Search & Rescue team modelled after those developed by the United States Federal Government. The Vancouver team would function much the same as the twenty-six operational teams in the US, many of whom have been deployed several times since 1990.

Initial funding of the team involved three levels of government. It required the City of Vancouver to provide fifty percent of the funding via emergency preparedness initiatives. The Federal-Provincial Joint Emergency Preparedness Program provided the remaining fifty percent for a total of $900,000.

The annual operating budget is provided entirely by the City of Vancouver.

The Vancouver USAR team acts as a framework for structuring existing emergency services personnel from the local level into an integrated disaster response task force. This community-based Search and Rescue team takes advantage of the pre-existing organizations that support them. The emergency service personnel who perform this work on a daily basis have been further trained in many related fields of rescue - giving them the ability to function as a unique and independent force if necessary.