nieuws - 10/11/2007 Ljubliana hosts IRO test - Slovenië
door Karl DonvilIRO tests in Slovenia
IRO stands for Internationale Rettunghunde-Organisation or International Rescue Dog Organization. This Worldwide Association of National Rescue Dog Organizations was founded in 1993 in Stockholm-Roserberg and has its seat in Salzburg, Austria in a need to bring more structure in all the national Rescue Dog teams that existed already in many countries and in order to streamline the work and increase the efficiency of work in case of a disaster anywhere in the world. For this reason a series of standard tests for dog, handler and team were established. It can be seen as one of the toughest but noblest tasks a dog can do for mankind, and I can assure that this is not without risk.
We have all heard already of the existence of such teams on television, in newspapers or on the radio. Man and dog, flown in from another country, offer assistance in search of living victims under the rubble. But very few of us know how they do it, who pays for the transportation, how they are trained and if they are efficient.
After any kind of disaster, people are missing, covered by rubble of whatever kind and some are injured seriously. Often it is very difficult to trace them and it happens probably very often that some are killed by the cranes and bulldozers while cleaning everything up. There are certain instruments that can detect victims under the rubble, but no instrument is more efficient but the nose of a dog. If well trained and motivated they can trace victims with relative ease as deep as 2,5m and probably more under the rubble, while instruments can be deceived by echoes of iron and other things and their results must anyway be interpreted by humans.
It is a fact that in case of a disaster or the missing of persons, every minute counts. In general it is assumed that after 4 days, the chance of finding any victims alive, is zero to none. For this reason it is of utmost importance that the search for victims can start within hours after the disaster happened. The IRO is of course aware of this, but in many cases in the past, they were very much disappointed as the governments of the affected countries thanked them for their offer for help or were just not aware of the benefits to have a dog rescue team to assist in the search for victims. In order to combine the offers for help from different countries, the IRO was founded as the one and only Organization to coordinate the different teams, alike the Red Cross. International rules were formulated and a seat was chosen. The ruling languages are German and English and all members are supposed to have a minimum notice of them. On a regular basis the teams (dog and handler is a team) are tested and if passed, they get a certificate for two years after which they need to renew their certificate and pass a new test. These testing events go from country to country, but for practical reasons and because most member countries belong to Europe, the tests are usually held in Europe. As the IRO seeks for worldwide recognition, they use their own diplomacy and lobby with foreign rescue teams, diplomats, governments and other international rescue organizations, and invite them to the tests as observers. So far they have established collaboration with the UNO (United Nations Organzation), OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the INSARAG (International Search & Rescue Advisory Group) and the FCI (Federation Cynologique International) and according to what the President Dr.Wolfgang Zörner told me, the Red Cross is aware of their existence and starts deploying plans for closer collaboration.
IRO Einsatztests in Ljubliana, Slovenia from 8-11 November 2007.
Dangerous breeds
Every year a mission-readiness-test is setup by the IRO. This year Slovenia was on term to setup all the tests in cooperation with the IRO. Teams from member countries can subscribe for this test which is required if a team wants to be part of the international group of available teams that can be send on an international mission. As such an intervention is extremely expensive and as the IRO receives only financial support by means of donations and is not supported by governmental sponsorship yet, it is of utmost importance that only the most efficient dogs are allowed to go and get the best results. Before the existence of the IRO, dog rescuing resulted in disaster tourism instead of efficient help.
Dogs entered for qualification for IRO have already proved to be efficient as they all have a degree in Obedience and have qualified for rescue dog in their own club. They need to be friendly, stress resisting, sound and obedient. But these are not the only qualifications they need. Their nose is their most important instrument and they must be able to use it to find human smells and to distinguish them from others smells like smoke, gas, corpses etc. Besides that it is obvious that only sound dogs can perform such tasks. They must be fit and show climbing ability and are supposed not to be afraid to take risks. They must show endurance but speed is not what is sought for in the first place. If a dog works too fast he can bring himself and handler into dangerous situations.
But not only the dog requires certain qualities, the handler too needs certain skills. He must be fit enough to perform the tests, be good in Orientation and must pass tests for First Aid for humans as well as for dogs. He must be a good team member and know how to handle specific tools, used for rescuing people.
The ultimate goal of every team is to get its IRO qualification as this opens the way to the real work in case of a disaster. But many teams have also the possibility to work in real conditions in their own countries. People not only get in trouble after an earthquake. People can also lose track and get lost, gas explosions can destroy buildings, they can be caught in an avalanche, or risk to get in trouble in coastal waters. Rescue Dogs can handle most of these situations and it is of less importance what breed it is. Most of them are Retrievers or Border Collies, but for this test in Ljubljana even a Rottweiler and a Pitbull like dog were on term and aren’t this the so-called Dangerous breeds, banned from the streets in many countries?
Realistic tests
Seven tests were setup in the neighborhood of Ljubljana in cooperation with the fire department and the civil guard. The helicopter rescue was setup at the Ljubljana Fire Department. Dog and handler were brought from the outside to the fourth floor of the building with a fire crane. From there dog and handler need to get down again gliding from a rope. The dog is tight up safely in a harness. It is very important that the dog doesn’t panic and relies on his master. In the classrooms of the fire department every competitor is examined for his knowledge on first aid for humans and dogs. The practical side of first aid knowledge was tested in a tent outside on the field.
The first field test we visited was organized in a wood recycling factory outside the city. A huge pile of rubble of almost 10 meters high was available. It was not only slippery but the nails in the wood, the splinters and the shaky balance caused a fair risk for injuries. Fake victims were safely buried under the rubble. The handler is only informed about the maximum victims to be looked. He has no idea where to look. I was really impressed by the climbing abilities of the dogs that were send upon the pile. Once a victim is detected by the dog, he starts barking to his master. He is rewarded generously by the master as well as by the victim. Of course is real situations, the victims have nothing to offer to the dog, that is why the handlers always have something with them, and I even have seen many handlers only offering a toy to play with for a few seconds as an alternative.
The endurance test was held in an old concrete factory that was out of use for several years and supposed to be demolished. The intention is to test the teams in 3 successive searches of 20 minutes with only 10 minutes rest in between them. On two sides of the plant the dogs needed to search in piles of concrete and stones for victims. On the front side of the factory the old offices were situated. They were partly destroyed, windows, roofs and walls included. This was one of the most realistic scenes to work in, alike what we see on the newsflashes on television reporting an earthquake. To make it even more realistic a smelly fire caused smoke overall the area and an engine was running to make noise. This was the most dangerous place to work in for the dog. One dog was cut by glass and needed first aid. I was a little worried by the risk for infection by asbestos from the roof.
As catastrophes are unpredictable, they can as well happen during the night. The risk of getting lost is also a lot higher during the night. For this reason the teams need to be tested under these conditions too. The first location was on the training site of the Civil Protection. Here was a kind of street with collapsed houses on both sides, only illuminated by the light of a generator and provided with artificial tunnels where victims could be hided. Within 20 minutes the dogs were supposed to have searched the area. Not easy, as it was a pretty large area and it was difficult to follow the dogs with only a headlight on the helmet. After this test was performed the teams received coordinates of another area in the fields, about 10km from there and were supposed to arrive there for the next test within the shortest time. Help of GPS was allowed. On the road they were held up by a real Police team and interrogated in order to distract them and test their stress resistance. Once arrived at the next location in the field, the teams were supposed to search for victims in open air. This time there was no light at all but the search lights or torches. Not easy as there were a lot of bushes around and it was very important to have the dog under control in such a large area and a forest at one side and this with almost zero visibility.
Beside all these tests the teams were supposed to manage themselves. They were camped on the training ground of the local rescue team of Ljubljana. They had no idea when they were ordered for a test. Within 10 minutes after the alarm they were supposed to be ready for work, good or bad weather, hungry or not, relaxed or tired. This is also part of the tests.
It is impressive to see that all this is done with 100% dedication and completely on a voluntary basis. One participant was invited in the very last moment as another team had canceled for the test. He drove 1700 km from the north of Holland and arrived in time and most important of all, he passed for the test. Suppose he didn’t get his qualification while spending his time and money to travel so far. This illustrates very well how devoted these volunteers are.
Seeking for worldwide recognition
The IRO is still a very young organization, but has already managed to get the respect of the UNO and INSARAG. The first intervention dates from 2001 when India was struck by an Earthquake. Since then 8 other interventions followed. Unfortunately too often the governments doesn’t realize the benefits and help a Dog Rescue team can offer. On one occasion, when the IRO offered to help and phoned to the embassy of the struck country for assistance, they were impolitely asked to call back later as the ambassador had visitors and on another occasion they were asked to call back on Monday as the ambassador didn’t want to disturbed during the weekend.
What the IRO seeks is to be taken serious by all governments and get facilities to be able to set up an intervention team and send it to the infected area within hours after the disaster took place. In order to prove that the IRO doesn’t consist of only a bunch of amateurs, they not only set up these tough qualifying test, but also invite delegations from other countries and governments to be witness of what the IRO has to offer. At this test at Ljubljana there was a delegation from Dubai and a delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Sweden did send two observers as did South Korea and the USA. Besides that, the International Press was also invited in order to spread the news and try to infect more countries, governments and organizations worldwide. A disaster creates chaos and therefore it is of utmost importance that help is perfectly coordinated, if not, it doesn’t decrease the chaos but only blocks off what others try to build up. IRO wants to become a full partner to the Red Cross and INSARAG and be taken as serious as them. Only then they can be more efficient in what they trained for, saving lives with the help of Men’s Best Friend.
