Tag: emergency services

The UK’s largest fire and rescue service played host to specialist dog units from across the country last weekend.

Highly trained canines from fire and police services across Britain descended on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s National Training Centre in Cambuslang from Friday, July 13 until Sunday, July 15.

The units, including International Search and Rescue (ISAR) and SFRS’ own urban search and rescue dog Diesel, came together for a joint training exercise led by ISAR.

A series of scenarios and exercises were set up to prepare the dogs for possible future incidents which included searching for casualties, agility training and even being lowered down the side of buildings in harnesses.

The handlers were also given a canine first aid training session by ISAR vet Francisco Ivens Brandāo.

Units from as far as London made the trip to Glasgow for the exercises.

SFRS instructor and dog handler Gary Carroll said: “The event brought fire and rescue colleagues from across the country together to share learnings and experiences.

“Across the weekend we had several challenging scenarios led by different instructors which allowed handlers to further train and expose their search dogs to new experiences.

“It was an extremely worthwhile event to arrange as many of the handlers – including myself can now add new training methods which will further challenge the skills of both ourselves and our dogs.”