Meet Red, the Search and Rescue Dog

The has a new rookie, Red.

Red is a 2-year-old bloodhound given to the fire district by Kym Johnson of Chicagoland Dog Rescue. Red resides at New Lenox Fire Station #4, located at Schoolhouse and Francis Road.

Red trains with the firefighters on shift every day. He has two designated handlers, FF/Paramedic Greg Gaj and FF/EMT Frank Hasik. Both firefighters join Red twice a month, 16 hours total, with Cook County and Joliet police agencies in search and rescue.

Red started training in September 2011 and on his first day picked up on his "visual runaway" immediately. This first day of training the "victim" rubs treats in Red's face and allows him to see where they run off too so he will go find them.

From there the training each time has been more extensive.  He now trains in 1 to 1 1/2 mile searches and conducts three different searches each training session. Red is considered a "trailing dog", these bloodhounds search by scent, not ground disturbances.

In May, Red and his handlers will be going to Salamanca, New York for a long weekend to be certified with the National Police Blood Hound Association. The Blood Hound Association is the only one of its kind in the nation and is usually geared only towards police search and rescue bloodhounds.

Only two other fire departments in the United States have been certified. Red and his handlers will have to go through rigorous training and obstacles all weekend, passing several extended search and rescue trails. Red will have to pass a certain percentage of rescues in order to be certified, as will his handlers.

The New Lenox Fire Foundation will be hosting a fundraiser for Red's training and equipment, partnering with Chili's Restaurant on Lincoln Highway on April 29 thru May 3. Each customer that brings in a voucher from the fire district and presents it with payment of their bill, 10% of each bill will be donated towards funding for Red.

The vouchers are available at any four fire stations in New Lenox.  For more information you can contact Fire Station One at 815-463-4500, visit New Lenox Fire District, or New Lenox Fire Foundation on Facebook!