Today may have been just a routine exercise, but if Zack graduates from the program, he could soon be bound for a tsunami, hurricane, earthquake or train wreck disaster zone any place in the world where his training will be crucial for saving human lives. The SDF, founded in 1996 in Ojai, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to strengthen disaster response in America. The foundation is the only organization in the country that recruits dogs from shelters and breed-specific rescue organizations and partners them with firefighters and first responders (at no cost to their departments). After graduating from SDF training, these teams will be certified through the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) and will be ready to save lives in disaster situations. “We don’t (expect) terrorist attacks, hurricanes, tornadoes, train crashes . . . but should any of these horrors happen, we’re ready. Because if there is a possibility that someone is alive in there—that is the purpose of these dogs,” explains SDF’s founder, Wilma Melville. At 83, the petite, rosy-cheeked, white-haired former physical education teacher, mother of four and total force of nature, seems anything but her age. Twenty-plus years ago, a recently-retired Wilma had two interests: horses and dogs. She spent her days either distance riding near her Ojai home or training at the Gilroy Sundowners training kennel with her black Labrador, Murphy, to obtain FEMA Advanced Disaster Search Dog certification: at the time, just another hobby. “I just kind of thought, I’d like to train a dog to do something special,” she explains. She and Murphy were one of only 15 certified disaster search dog teams in the nation. Wilma Melville says canine trainer Pluis Davern taught her the In 1995, Wilma and Murphy embarked on their first deployessentials to building a successful search dog team: choosing the right dog, choosing the right handler and ensuring the best training for both. ment: the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Search dogs found one survivor. That eye-opening experience propelled Wilma to launch a project that would fundamentally change the ways
KARYN NEWBILL
DENISE SANDERS
From left: Huck, Tanker, Rugby, Riley and Pearl, all SDF graduates, stand with their first responder partners during the christening of the train wreck set, right, at the training center in 2015.