A Rescue Mission in Pakistan
Evelina Rioukhina, UNECE
“Whichever disaster you attend, there are
always good and bad memories that you
take away with you. These memories have
had a major impact on my life”
(C.Pritchard)
Icalled my previous article “Unsung
heroes” (UNS 651, 2006), and this is
very true, since we spoke about rescue
dogs.
However, behind all these dogs stand
their masters, their trainers, the people
who do the real job, or to be more precise,
who teach and train the dogs so that the job
can be done. And the job is saving lives,
our lives, the lives of people.
I was offered a lot of information on different
events, but I tried to get information on
Pakistan. Not only because this is one of the
most recent tragedies, but also because Pakistan
is one of the most difficult areas… And
participation in this mission, as I can imagine,
needed more heroism than other missions. I
managed to get in touch with real heroes of this
event and was particularly impressed by one of
them, whom I would like to introduce to you:
Mr. Chris Pritchard from the UK Fire Service
Urban Search and Rescue Dog.
Chris Pritchard is a Fire-fighter in
Leicestershire serving on the Technical
Rescue Team, Chris is an integral part of
this watch and is responsible not just for
handling his USAR dogs, but trained to
respond to the following incidents as well:
heavy rescue, EMT medical skills, USAR,
water rescue, rope rescue, trench rescue,
confined space rescue, major transport
incidents, large animal rescue.
These are just a few of the types of incidents
that the team are called upon for a
local, regional response within the UK.
The team can also be called anywhere in
the country for urban search and rescue
incidents as well.
Chris is also a member of the United
Kingdom Fire Service Search & Rescue
Team (UKFSSART) who deploy teams
abroad in major disasters on behalf of the
British Government, such as the recent
earthquake in Pakistan.
He has trained and worked with dogs for
many years, serving in the Armed Forces
with protection dogs, before
specialising as an operational Arms Explosive search dog handler for 5 years. Chris
then transferred to the Royal Army Veterinary
Corps where he became an instructor,
training handlers and dogs for many different
types of operational roles.
Since leaving the Armed Forces, Chris
has focused this dog training ability into
Search & Rescue dogs. He was instrumental
in deploying one of the first Disaster
Search & Rescue Dogs to be deployed from
the United Kingdom to a major earthquake
abroad, (Columbia) with the charity
RAPID UK. Chris also deployed his other
SAR dog Gemma IN the Turkish earthquake
which took place in 1999 and the
Algerian Earthquake of 2003.
Why and how it happened that you
participated in the Pakistan earthquake?
“When I first found out that Pakistan had
been hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake,
my first thoughts were if any specialist
search teams were to be deployed to it
from the UK. This was soon confirmed, and
I was asked to find out how many Fire Service
dog teams were available for deployment
to this incident. One team was available,
consisting of Neil Woodmansey and
his dog Holly (Lincolnshire UKFSSART).
This would be the first time that Neil and
Holly would have be deployed overseas on
an operational task, and due to my expertise
and knowledge in this field, Neil asked
me if I was able to go out and support the
team.
I was not on call at this time for overseas,
and had to seek clearance from Leicestershire
UKFSSART. As soon as I got the goahead,
things moved along at a frantic
pace: I packed my personal kit, picked up
and collected additional equipment from
my station to support me on the ground for
a minimum of 10 days, and made my way to
Lincolnshire to join up with Lincolnshire
UKFSSART team, and from there we were
on our way to the airport, and flying out to
Pakistan.”
How did you get to the earthquake’s
area? It is a very difficult accessible area.
What was particularly difficult in
Pakistan?
Ours was one of the first international teams
into Islamabad. Landslides had made the
roads impassable, and helicopters were
called upon as this was the only way to reach
our destination. The first wave flew out that
evening to Muzaffarabad, close to the
epicenter of the earthquake, and the
area which had been hardest hit. We
had to wait until first light to fly out, as
the pilots would not fly over such difficult
mountainous terrain in the dark.
As we approached Muzaffarabad, the
helicopter circled over the town, and we could see the full extent of the devastation. Roads had disappeared,
35% of the buildings were completely flattened,
and of the remainder, all were damaged to some degree. I
made note of potential areas to search if we had the means
and opportunity to reach them. The weather was also against
us. Due to its mountainous position in Kashmir, the weather
in this area changed rapidly from very hot and sunny, to
extreme cold following major downpours and thunderstorms,
and frequent flooding. Conditions were arduous, but we kept
up the momentum. When the rescue phase was being scaled
down we had to make our way back to Islamabad by road as
all the helicopters were tasked for flying in aid. It was incredible
that there was only one single-track mountain road out of
the regional capital city of Muzzafabad for the first 15 miles.
The scenery was phenomenal in these high mountains, with
small villages springing up out of nowhere, numerous hairpin
bends and sheer drops off the side. I couldn’t comprehend
that this was the major route to the capital. Security was very
high as reports came through of vehicles being stopped and
aid and equipment being looted from them. We waited for
nearly 2 days for private and military escorts to be arranged
for us. The whole journey took us approximately 10 hours to
complete the 80 mile journey as there were so many vehicles
trying to get in as we were leaving which was also compounded
with the landslides that destroyed or damaged the roads in
some way or another.
If it was difficult for you, how physically was it for your dogs?
All search and rescue dog work should be a big game of hide
and seek for the dog. When the dog goes out to look for a human
scent and locates the target, the dog will bark for its reward.
The reward is usually some sort of toy, usually a squeaky ball.
From a handler’s perspective we fully understand the consequences
of what we are carrying out and it is imperative that
the handler must maintain the dogs play drive throughout any
search. So it is important that the handler manages his dog to
maximise the dog’s drive at all times. All our dogs must have a
minimum of 6hrs undisturbed rest in every 24hr period to minimise
any physical issues arising which could effect the dogs’
capabilities in detecting the casualties.
How in general you travel with your dogs? Do you need special
cages for them?
We pride ourselves on the fact that all our dogs live in the family
home and travel to and from work with their handlers on a
daily basis, which is unusual for service dog teams as they are
normally kept in kennels.
My role on Technical Rescue involves a rota basis shift pattern e.g.
days and nights, which means that the dogs are always with me at work
or in the vehicle when I travel any distance. We also work a retainer
system, which means that we are on call from home when not on duty
as we need to respond to any incidents immediately.
All our teams train on a regular basis, and from this the dogs are
trained to accept all forms of transport from cars, trucks etc, to
boats and aircraft.
When we are unable to use our vehicles, we use specially
designed air portable crates for deployments. These double up as
kenneling and sleeping areas for the dogs during the deployment
at base camp.
When flying, the dogs will be crated in their kennels in the cargo
hold of the plane if travelling on a commercial flight. However, if the
plane has been privately chartered by the Government the dogs will
normally travel with their handlers in the passenger area.
How do they support the travel and the stress of the flights, of
the cages?
All our dogs carry out regular training in these types of environments.
This comes down to regular continuation training and
accessing the correct training venues to prevent the dogs becoming
stressed in these situations.
What is the role of the rescue dog team?
The excellent scenting capabilities of dogs can be used within a
collapsed structure or search area to indicate the presence of
casualties and identify their location either on or within a collapsed
structure. They are able to search a relatively large area in
a short space of time.
They are one part of the comprehensive technical search toolbox
available to the USAR commanders in order to identify and
determine the location of the casualty.
Well trained teams will be part of a systematic technical
search team. The information provided by the search dog will
need to be confirmed, where appropriate, by other search
capabilities. It must be remembered that a search dog is not
infallible and as it is in effect a living, non-communicating animal,
its effectiveness is dependent upon the handler’s ability to interpret the information offered by
the dog.
To maximise the effectiveness of these
teams working in very harsh conditions, the
dog team element will consist of 2 dog teams
working in conjunction with each other.
How did you work, describe your working
day in details, please. Also, how did the
dogs understand or more precise, how did
you explain what was expected from
them?
The dog teams worked a maximum of 18
hours a day for the first 5 days, after which
the tasks started to slow down due to more
search and rescue teams arriving at our
location.
Both Neil and Hollie worked extremely
well, due to the training that they had
received. My role was to support the team
throughout: monitor that the searches
were carried out correctly and that Neil
was carrying out the correct procedures
for the dog’s welfare, and offering technical
advice when needed. However this was
more of a supervisory role as Neil and Hollie
demonstrated that they were more than
capable of carrying out the role throughout
this deployment, with Holly giving several
good indications during the search operation.
Neil has served in the Fire Service for the
last 20 years and is at the moment the USAR
manager for Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Service.
Hollie is a black Labrador bitch that has
been qualified for USAR work for the last
2years; she is nearly 4 years old.
What happens when the dog gives
indication that a person might be alive?
Once Holly had indicated, the rest of the
team went in for the rescue, using technical
search cameras to pinpoint the casualty
and mainly hand tools to breach and
break, and then extricate the casualty. We
couldn’t use heavy equipment due to the
location of the casualties – in many cases
the floors were right on top of them, with
limited or non-existent voids. The whole
rescue process was very time-consuming.
How many people did you manage to
rescue? What is the most striking
impression for you that you keep?
This was one of the most successful search
and rescue missions ever mounted. The
UK teams rescued a total of 13 people, 7 in
Islamabad and 6 from the Muzaffarabad
area. This was approximately 50% of the
total rescues carried out by all the international
rescue teams responding to the disaster.
The success of the deployment was down
to the fact that we were mobilised quickly,
arrived in the country early, and the teams
demonstrated the highest level of professionalism,
working in extreme conditions
in a country whose infrastructure had
totally collapsed.
Wherever you go throughout the world to
attend a disaster the human pain and the
smells from destruction are always the
same. What always sticks in my mind is the
smell of crushed concrete from the buildings
which brings back memories from previous
deployments.
When the disaster occurs, how quickly
can you arrive at the site and for how
long you think you can search and
rescue?
The team are on call 24 hours-a-day, 365
days-a-year, for international search and rescue duties on behalf of the UK
Government, to respond to an accident
or disaster anywhere in the world. We
can be deployed immediately, and move
from our base locations in the UK within
2hrs of a call. Reaching the disaster
location will be dependent on lots of factors,
but normally we will hit the ground
between 24 – 72hrs after the incident.
This also takes into account the time
needed to travel to the disaster location.
The team will normally travel with
enough supplies to be self-sufficient for 10
days. Our operations in the field usually
last 7 – 10 days, after which time the search& rescue phase of the operation is scaled
down and the focus switches to humanitarian
aid.
You participated in many similar events.
Of course, they all are called“earthquakes”, but it is clear that they
are all very different one from another.
As far as I know, you participated in the
Columbia earthquake in 1999, in two
Turkish earthquakes in 1999, in Algeria
earthquake in 2003. What was the most
difficult mission? What are the most
striking memories of rescue that you
have?
Whichever disaster you attend, there are
always good and bad memories that you
take away with you. It is difficult to
answer this question fully, however the
memories of each individual disaster
that I have attended have had a major
impact on my life. The good memories
are far easier to deal with and sometimes
put a smile on your face. The bad
memories can come back and haunt you
at anytime, and you must be strong to
deal with these and tell yourself that you
did the best job that you could at that
time. Otherwise they will constantly eat
away at you.
You have also participated in one flood
event. In the documentation of IRO I have
read that in the event of flood it is more
difficult to train the dogs for rescue? Is
that true? What can you tell about that
mission?
We will only deploy dogs to sweep areas
after the flood has receded. The flood that
I attended in Mozambique was without
dogs, as I was deployed as boat handler.
Following the Tsunami, we sent 2 of
our handlers/ trainers to support the
Royal Thai Military Dog Training Centre.
We have been training this team of
handlers and dogs from Southern
Thailand for the last 5 years in search
and rescue work.
Further details can be found at
http://www.ukfssartdogteams.org.uk/tsunami.htm
As I understood, you have two dogs of
your own: Gemma and Elliot. Tell us a few
words about your own dogs.
Both of my dogs are Border Collie
dogs (sheep dogs) who are very experienced
in this field of work. I am very
proud of both of them and their
achievements.
They have attended some major incidents,
and have demonstrated the value of welltrained
dogs being used in these types of
operations. They have earned well-deserved
respect throughout the Fire Service.
In what events did they participate?
Both Elliott and Gemma have worked in
the UK & internationally, supporting the
Fire Service and the UK government on
Urban Search & Rescue incidents.
These incidents have ranged from major
catastrophic incidents to people going
missing in my local community:
Building Collapses
Aircraft Accidents
Road Traffic Collisions
Rail Accidents
Explosions
Earthquake Incidents
Construction Accidents
Immediate Area, Urban & Rural
Sweep Searches of the Inner Cordons
of these incidents.
Some of these incidents can be found on our web site: www.ukfssartdogteams.org.uk
I have seen in the photos that the
awards go not to people but to dogs.
Usually people get awards for saving
lives, and in your case your dogs have
such awards. Please say a few words
about these awards.
Elliott won the UK Pro Dogs Gold Medal
Award for “life-saving” in 1999, for the
work that he carried out in the Colombian
earthquake of 1999.
Gemma won the UK Pro Dogs Gold
Medal Award in 2003 for “devotion to
duty”.
Gemma also represented the UK
at an international honouring ceremony
in Washington on 21st
August 2003, for the National
Canine Global Heroes Award. The
international ceremony was hosted
by the Humane Society of the
United States at their headquarters.
Each National Canine World
Hero had imprints of their paws
enshrined in cement, creating a ‘Canine World Heroes Tribute
Walk of Fame’.
© 2006 UN Special |