Our most important resource - watch as search and rescue dog Merlin joins national canine colleagues to locate casualties

Five-year-old Dutch Herder Labrador cross Merlin was showcasing his talents alongside 14 other search and rescue dogs and their handlers from across the country as TWFRS’s headquarters is Washington hosted a national three day training and assessment programme.

Using the centre’s unique facilities, which includes replicated collapsed buildings, traffic collision scenarios, and a flooded basement, the dogs and their handlers had to navigate three different situations to locate trapped casualties.

The scenarios included casualties buried in tunnels, under rubble, and trapped in lift shafts.

Merlin’s handler and TWFRS watch manager Steve Carr said: “Merlin’s main role is to look for live scents for missing people. It could be a structural collapse, major transport incident or it could be a high risk missing person out in a wooded area.

“Dogs like Merlin are absolutely priceless. We have so much kit, but the most important part of the kit is Merlin and dogs like him.

“If I get called to collapsed building first then I want Merlin with me. He’s looking for a live scent which could indicate someone is trapped beneath the rubble.

“He lets us know where that person is and when the team arrives with all the lifting gear, that is when they can get to work because we have already identified where the casualty is.”

The onsite collapsed structured used for the training was the first of its kind used anywhere in the country when launched over three years ago. The training facility sees a number of chambers connected by 180ft of concrete pipework, which has been covered in rubble to recreate a collapsed structure setting.

Watch manager Carr said: “The national canine training and assessment programme is a great way for handlers and their dogs to show their knowledge and learn new skills by working under closely controlled conditions.

“We are lucky to have these state-of-the-art resources in the region that enable responders to experience first-hand the kind of environments they might face during a major incident.

“For a handler to be crawling through confined spaces in underground tunnels alongside their canine colleague is a rare occurrence that our facilities allow. Over the three days everyone will have the chance to bond and work closely together here in the North East.”

TWFRS area manager Andy Lilford added: “We are proud to be hosting such an important exercise at our North East training centre. The country’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams train for every eventuality, where their specialist skills are required for some of the most dangerous incident types we attend, ranging from gas explosions to international earthquake zones.

“The unique facilities we have here in Tyne and Wear enables the USAR dogs and their handlers to train under real life conditions allowing then to develop and fine tune their specialist techniques.”