On August 18, 2023, SDF-trained canine search teams Brian Girard & Keila and Brook Rowley & Echo (New York Task Force 2) responded to a report of two hikers lost in the Catskill Mountains. The two missing men, ages 18 and 20, were part of a group of 16 …
On August 13, 2023, two SDF-trained human remains detection (HRD) search teams, Nick Bartel & Six and Ed Ruiz & Harper from California Task Force 2 (CA-TF2) traveled to Maui along with their teammates, Celine Serrano & Prentiss to assist in the aftermath of wildfires that devastated the region …
Early on Monday morning, February 6, a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Türkiye, Syria, and the surrounding region, destroying buildings and leaving a swath of devastation stretching hundreds of miles. One of the strongest quakes ever to hit the region, it produced aftershocks nearly as strong as the initial …
Hurricane Ian made its way past Cuba, through central Florida, and up the East Coast of the United States over a period of nearly one week. Growing from a tropical storm into a deadly Category 4 hurricane as it made landfall on the western Florida coastline, Ian crept slowly …
Baja California Task Force 3 (BC-TF3) members Fidel Gomez & Gemma and Luis Garcia & Montecito responded to a landslide in the Sanchez Taboada area of Tijuana. The canine teams were dispatched within ten minutes of the 911 call when it was reported that the landslide had collapsed a building …
Our very own SDF staff member, Mandy Tisdale, deployed with her search dog, Paul, to an abandoned commercial building fire in Oxnard on July 15, 2022. Upon arriving on the scene, firefighters rescued a homeless man from the roof of the building. Unsure if additional people had been inside when …
Five SDF-trained search teams deployed, along with at least 18 state and federal task forces from across the country, to assist in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ida, which made landfall on August 29, 2021, as a deadly Category 4 hurricane. Devastating damage and ongoing flooding have left many communities …
Following a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the island nation of Haiti on August 14, 2021, U.S.-based task force USA-1 (Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department) has deployed to assist with search and rescue operations, including four canine disaster search teams. Among the two- and four-legged rescuers is an …
Four SDF-trained search teams—Marshia Hall & Lilah (Florida Task Force 4), Patti Krafft & Billy (Texas Task Force 1), Lee Culley & Tommy and Roxanne Bauman & Cole (both Utah Task Force 1)—deployed to the Gulf Coast in response to Hurricane Laura. These teams joined task forces from throughout the …
Just before 8 p.m. on June 18, 2020, Handler Eric Darling received a call from the Ventura County Fire Department to assist in confirming no one was left behind after a fire in a drainage pipe in Santa Paula, CA. The tube is a space known to be used as …
