About SAR HI

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About SAR HI

The Hawaii State Civil Defense Urban Search and Rescue Canine Unit is one component (the “Search Element”) of the state’s Disaster Response Team. Its primary mission is disaster response (searching for people missing in natural or man-made disasters such as collapsed structures). However, the Canine Unit also trains dogs to search for missing persons in both urban and wilderness settings. The Urban Search and Rescue Canine Unit is a state resource, but its services are available free of charge to state and county agencies (Police, Fire, others) on all islands, whenever search dogs are needed and agencies may request search dog resources for immediate assistance. The Canine Unit is made up entirely of volunteers, both dog handlers and non-dog handlers, who spend hundreds of hours each year training themselves and their dogs to be professional responders. Search dogs are tested by outside organizations and certified to a national standard before they are considered to be mission ready. Likewise, all support personnel and canine handlers are required to be certified to a national standard in search and rescue skills (such as land navigation, tracking, wilderness survival and rope skills). Additionally, personnel are also trained in CPR/First Aid, hazmat awareness, blood borne Pathogens, crime scene protocol, missing persons characteristics and behaviors, and much more.

Types of Searching Skills:

Canines are trained in one or more search disciplines based upon the intrinsic capability of each dog to perform a particular job. After a dog is certified for a certain type of search discipline, training continues throughout the life of the dog to ensure peak performance.

Four main types of search dog skills or disciplines are;

1. Disaster Search – Dogs work off-lead searching collapsed or compromised buildings and debris piles to find trapped individuals. Disaster dogs must have outstanding agility and directability, as well as the ability to remain safe in often very hazardous conditions.

2. Wilderness Airscent Search – Dogs work off lead, moving quickly to search large areas to locate any humans in the area. Dogs must have outstanding directability and stamina.

3. Wilderness Tracking/Trailing – Dogs work in harness and on lead to follow a path where a specific person has been. Usually an item of the missing individual is used for scent identification. These dogs may either follow the exact footsteps of the person (tracking) or work a wider corridor of scent left in an area (trailing).

4. Human Remains Detection - Dogs work off or on-lead and are capable of detecting small or large amounts of human remains like bones or tissue.

Kauai Flood

Collapsed Structure