A day I will never forget

Petr Svoboda is search and rescue dog handler at the IRO member organisation SIRIUS and firefighter for Hasičský záchranný sbor ČR (HZS ČR). He tells us all about what happened during the in­ter­na­ti­o­nal mission:

5 August 2020 will remain in my memory forever. I was on duty at the fire station when I received the information about the opera­tion. I did not hesitate much, packed my equipment and travelled with my dog Diego from Hlučín to Prague.

When we arrived at the airport, a vet­eri­nar­ian was waiting for us dog handlers and checked the condition of our dogs before departure. They were visibly rest­less and felt an in­creased level of adrena­line, nerv­ous­ness and excitement in view of the up­com­ing chal­lenge. The ceremony with the presentation of a report to the Czech Min­is­ter of the Interior Jan Hamá­ček as well as a press conference with in­vited journalists in front of the waiting plane confirmed to everyone the im­por­tance of our mission.

On arrival in Beirut, we were met by staff from the Czech Embassy as well as repre­sentatives of the Lebanese army, which was leading the rescue work at the site of the ex­plo­sion and in the immediate vi­cin­ity. Although we arrived in Beirut late at night, the heat load was enormous due to the high humidity. There was a real “green­house atmosphere“.

The next morning there was a meeting of all the newly arrived teams and the search areas were divided by nations. The area as­signed to us was first examined by a struc­tur­al engi­neer, who identified areas that our team had to avoid due to in­creased danger of collapse. Due to the prevailing cir­cum­stances, with tem­pera­tures around 50 °C, rubble, and shards everywhere, careful plan­ning was es­sen­tial to ensure the safety of all rescue forces and dogs at all times. After ap­pro­pri­ate preparation, we started to de­ploy our dogs to search under the rubble for survivors.

I am proud to have been able to support this extraordinary mission together with Diego. The intensive preparations for such missions have paid off. Our dogs showed maximum commitment, and even slight bruises on their paws did not affect their will to work. With their performance, they confirmed that they are an irreplaceable part of the team.