Crime & Safety
Rescue Dogs Come to the Ashburn Fire Station Open House
Sunday's event by the local volunteers gives people a chance to meet some canine heroes, learn about fire safety.
This weekend the will host an , giving residents a chance to meet their local volunteers and kids plenty of fun activities. The event, which takes place rain or shine, features demonstrations of helicopter rescues, vehicle extrication, family activities and the chance to interact and learn from the heroes who help keep Ashburn safe.
This year, the Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association (VSRDA) will be on hand. VSRDA is a volunteer canine search and rescue unit that specializes in locating missing persons wherever needed, whether in the water, wilderness or in a disaster situation. Members of the group have traveled all over the world, assisting in rescue and recovery wherever their special skills are needed.
“We talk to everyone about preventative search and rescue; how to be safe in the woods, how to not get lost, and what to do if lost,” said David Wyttenbach, VSRDA’s president. “We do these demonstrations about twice a month, for fire station open houses, elementary schools, church groups or whoever else might be interested.”
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To make the lesson on safety that much more effective, the group solicits a volunteer from the audience for a live rescue demonstration, with a full explanation of what the dogs are doing along the way.
“We’ll talk about the team and the training, and then we’ll do a demonstration of the dogs skills,” Wyttenbach said. “We’ll look for someone in the crowd who wants to be found. People will see how the dog finds the person and notifies the handler that they’ve been found.”
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The organization utilizes volunteers and working-breed dogs – typically German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers, but they use others as well, depending on the particular canine’s suitability for the physical and emotional stresses of the job. VSRDA volunteers and their dogs travel all over the world.
“I just came back from Peru,” Wyttenbach explained. “We assisted in a search and rescue there. Three of our association members are also on Virginia Task Force One, which just came back from Japan. We also had some members travel to Haiti to work with USAid and FEMA.”
To learn more about the Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association, go to www.vsrda.org, or simply attend the open house, which runs from noon to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the fire station on Ashburn Road.
