168 is engraved in my heart.
—Wilma Melville, SDF Founder
On April 19, 1995, a devastating attack in Oklahoma City shook the nation. Tragically, the attack resulted in the loss of 168 lives, and many more were forever changed.
Today, the Search Dog Foundation continues to train our nation’s search teams in preparation for the day they’re called to help others in their time of greatest need, never forgetting the tragedy that continues to drive our mission, or the 168 lives lost that fateful day.
Oklahoma City, 1995
On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 am, the unthinkable happened in Oklahoma City. A massive bomb exploded in a rental truck parked just outside the downtown Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, reducing over a third of the large, nine-story structure to rubble in just a matter of moments. The blast, which created a 30-foot-wide, 8-foot-deep crater beside the building, could be heard and felt up to 55 miles away.
For over two weeks, rescue workers scoured the rubble, eventually locating 168 victims who had tragically lost their lives in the attack. The toll included 19 children, many of whom had been dropped off at the building’s daycare center earlier that morning.
In addition, 684 people were injured from the blast, and hundreds of buildings within a four-block radius were destroyed or damaged, leaving many people homeless. The estimated cost of the damages was over $650 million, but the greatest loss—the lives of 168 individuals—is immeasurable.
At the time, it was the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in the nation’s history.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deployed 11 task forces to Oklahoma City, sending 665 rescue workers to aid rescue and recovery efforts. The conditions of the deployment were difficult and, at times, dangerous. Over the course of the 16-day response, 26 rescuers were hospitalized due to injuries, and one nurse was killed after being struck by falling debris.
Among the teams deployed to Oklahoma City were SDF Founder Wilma Melville and her search dog, Murphy. At the time, they were one of only 15 FEMA Advanced Certified canine disaster search teams in the entire nation.
In Oklahoma City, Wilma saw firsthand just how critical the need was for highly trained canine disaster search teams. The canine teams on the ground could search large areas with incredible accuracy, in a fraction of the time it would have taken humans alone. Wilma knew these amazing dogs had the potential to make a huge difference in the nation’s disaster response, but with so few teams and minimal training opportunities, their impact was limited.
Committed to strengthening disaster response in the United States after what she had witnessed in Oklahoma City, Wilma founded the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation with the goal of training 168 certified canine disaster search teams—one for each of the lives lost to that heartbreaking attack.
Wilma’s goal was realized in February 2020, upon the certification of SDF’s 168th team. Though there is some closure in reaching that milestone, we know our work is far from over. We continue to train our nation’s search teams in preparation for the day they’re called to help others, never forgetting the devastating event that continues to drive our mission, or the 168 lives lost that day.
It’s important that we honor those people… that is what the 168 means to me. Having been a handler at that tragedy, it literally took my life and turned it in a new direction… that tragedy reached my heart.
—Wilma Melville, SDF Founder