A heavy rescue vehicle is a type of specialty firefighting or EMS (Emergency Medical Services) apparatus. Essentially oversized toolboxes on wheels, they are primarily designed to provide the specialized equipment necessary for technical rescue situations such as auto accidents requiring vehicle extrication, building collapses, confined space rescue, rope rescues and swiftwater rescues.. They carry an array of special equipment such as the Jaws of life, wooden cribbing, generators, winches, hi-lift jacks, cranes, cutting torches, circular saws and other forms of heavy equipment unavailable on standard trucks. This capability differentiates them from traditional pumper trucks or ladder trucks designed primarily to carry firefighters and their entry gear as well as onboard water tanks, hoses and equipment for fire extinguishing and light rescue. Most heavy rescue vehicles lack onboard water tanks and pumping gear, owing to their specialized role, but some do carry onboard pumps in order to broaden their response capability.

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association in the U.S.) standards 1006 and 1670 give guidance for the operation of heavy rescue vehicles and also state that all "rescuers" must have medical training equivalent to EMT-Basic standard to perform any technical rescue operation, including cutting into the vehicle itself . Therefore, in most all rescue environments, whether it is an EMS Department or Fire Department that runs the rescue, the actual rescuers who cut the vehicle and run the extrication scene are Medical First Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, or Paramedics, as a motor vehicle accident has a patient involved.