It is tasked with maintaining a secure environment in Estonia, anticipating threats and helping people in the event of an accident.

[1] The organization provides a large number of services, including emergency response, firefighting, oil pollution removal, explosive ordnance disposal, chemical and radiation hazard elimination, water rescue etc.

[2] The predecessors of the Estonian Rescue Board were the Firefighting Administration under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, which was renamed the Fire Fighting Board of the Ministry of the Interior in 1990, and a separate civil defence organization.

On September 10, 1991, the Civil Defence Staff was reformed into the National Rescue Board of the Republic of Estonia.

This move combined civil protection, firefighting and rescue operations under the domain of one organization.