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Search Dog Foundation: Japan rescue update with dogs

March 16, 2011 • Rescue • by Guest Writer

Six canines and their firefighter-handlers trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation are searching from dawn to dark, combing the wreckage in Ofunato City on the North East coast of Japan to find survivors buried alive in the rubble. Their base of operations is a gymnasium which California Task Force 2 shares with Virginia Task Force 1 and a British Task Force, our partners in the search effort.

We spoke to handler Gary Durian of L.A. County Fire on Tuesday at 4:00 pm California time (8:00 am Wednesday Japan time). Here is his report:

It rained Tuesday, snowed all night, and is still snowing. Space heaters in the gym are helping to keep the Task Force personnel and the dogs warm when they’re not out searching. We are ‘delayering’ an area—Task Force members remove a layer of debris after it is searched and then we work the next layer.

We are divided into groups. Hunter and Joe are out searching now. When they finish, Cadillac, Baxter, and Riley will take their place. Pearl is resting today. The devastation from the tsunami is just unbelievable. The dogs are searching well and all their training has definitely paid off.

The job of our Search Dogs is to find live victims, conscious or unconscious, in the debris left by the earthquake and tsunami. All rescue personnel will be awaiting a “Bark Alert” from the dogs, letting them know there is someone in need of rescue.

Equally important is the dogs’ ability to “clear” an area, i.e. determine that there is no one alive in the wreckage, and the rescue crews can move on to the next site.

Says SDF Founder, Wilma Melville: “Every minute counts as the teams work to find people buried beneath the rubble. After the Haiti deployment, this is a battle-seasoned group. If there are people still alive in the rubble, the dogs will find them. I am so proud of every canine and handler out there combing the debris for signs of life, and feel confident in their abilities knowing they have had the best training possible and are at their highest skill level.”

SDF will train 21 new teams in 2011 (at a cost of $15,000 per team) to be ready for the next local, national or international disaster. SDF receives no government funding and relies solely on support from individuals, private foundations, and companies to provide this critical resource—at no cost to fire departments or taxpayers.

For more information about the Search Teams or to make a donation to turn rescued dogs into rescuers, help form our new 2011 teams, and provide the highest-level training to our existing teams: visit www.SearchDogFoundation.org, and follow the teams on Facebook and Twitter.

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