Photos: Disaster Search K9
Dogs are training to aid the New York Task Force 2 of the Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Charlie, a 2-year-old golden retriever, is one of two new Disaster Search K-9s that has joined New York State’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. As part of the New York Task Force 2 of the Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Charlie will be ready — with his handler, Fire Protection Chris Johnson — to conduct search-and-rescue operations in environments including collapsed or burned-out buildings. Here, Fire Protection Specialist Greg Gould looks on as Charlie practices walking over uneven surfaces, in a training area in Guilderland’s Northeast Industrial Park.
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The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Two-year-old black Lab Keila (KEE-la) is the other Disaster Search K-9 that recently joined Task Force 2. Here, Keila shows off her unerring sense of smell. Released from her leash at the far edge of a 10,000-square-foot rubble pile that serves as a training area in Guilderland’s Northeast Industrial Park, she headed straight for the cement tube where her handler, Fire Protection Specialist Brian Girard, had asked a volunteer to hide.