California authorities send canine task force to help Maui recovery efforts
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - On Sunday, members of Los Angeles County Fire Department's (LACoFD) K-9 Search and Rescue Team headed to Maui to help in the recovery efforts after the devastating wildfires.
These canine crews train for this regularly, several times a month, but a canine named Prentiss headed out to Maui to search the destruction, and will try to find any victims and possible survivors.
"We wanna get to work. We wanna see how many people can help out out there. Bring closer to those family members, and with the support of these dogs, hopefully nobody gets injured and we just try to do the best we can," said Captain Celina Serrano of LACoFD and handler for Prentiss.
Apprentice is the oldest of the three canines in the deployment team. Prentiss joins canines Harper and Six, along with firefighter paramedics, Edward Ruiz and Nicholas Bartel.
"This is what they're trained to do"
They were given a supportive sendoff from LAX, along with their counterparts from LAFD. FEMA activated the California Task Force Team Two Urban Search and Rescue Canine Team Saturday to get them to Maui and begin helping in the search in the destruction by late Sunday, a horribly difficult task for these well trained crews.
"These dogs are trained on human cremations as well, and on...victims that were burnt in houses. We're going out to see, so they're ready to do their job. This is what they're they're trained to do," Ruiz spoke.
"It's a lot of responsibility. It means a lot. I've met people impacted by this already," Bartel remarked.
Prentiss and the other two two teams will be out in Maui at least for two weeks.
