Hero's First Deployment,
November 22, 2006
Meredith:
I didn't think this would happen so soon after our certification, but
Hero and I went on our first deployment with the USAR team yesterday!!!
An ink plant exploded in Danvers, MA yesterday morning at 2:45 a.m.,
destroying the plant and many nearby buildings. As you can see
from the photos, homes in the adjacent neighborhood were severely
damaged. We were called in to conduct a secondary search of the
buildings and perform structural assessments. By some miracle,
nobody was killed by the explosion.
Hero and I searched a number of homes and fortunately there was
nobody to be found. The first-responding fire department had
successfully evacuated everyone. Hero did a great job. He
was not at all disturbed by the loud noises associated with a rescue
operation (sirens, heavy machinery, etc.) and did a great job of
ignoring the distractions while he worked. Several of the
houses looked like somebody had picked them up, shook them and then
set them back down. Consequently, the contents of the kitchens
(including food!) were spread throughout the entire home.
And of course, he was insanely friendly with everybody who wanted to
greet him. I really think the dogs provide a little stress
relief to the other responders. Lots of fireman and other
rescuers came up to Hero to give him a pat. Hero, of course,
loved every minute of it.
Here is the link to the photos:
http://www.matf.org/gallery/Danvers?page=1
There are at least 3 or 4 of me and Hero.
Wow!
-Konnie and Hero
Meredith
and Tracy Kuhn