Over the weekend, SDF welcomed search teams from all over North America to our campus to participate in the first-ever SDF-hosted Certification Evaluation (CE) held at our training center. Participating teams, which included 14 live-find teams and one human remains detection (HRD) team, traveled from Alabama, California, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Washington, and Baja California to test. All 15 participating teams—including four SDF-trained teams—passed and achieved certification, making those teams eligible to deploy with their respective task forces when disasters strike!
Months of intensive preparation went into ensuring every aspect of the test went smoothly, and it was an incredibly proud moment to see the SDF team work together alongside a cadre of evaluators from all over the United States, supporting these teams in achieving certification. By providing search teams with testing opportunities, SDF is helping to ensure that when the unthinkable happens, our nation’s teams are deployment-ready.
Please join us in congratulating the following teams:
Alabama Task Force 1
Matt Stevens & Patton
California Regional Task Force 2
Joe De La Torre & Nacho – Montebello Fire Department
Florida Task Force 4
Lana Manakova & Funny
Lana Manakova & Afie (HRD)
Northwest Disaster Search Dogs
Janiece Miller & Parker
Sharmin Dominke & Secret
Lindsay Kirkegaard & Gus Gus
Kentucky Task Force 1
James Griffith & Olivia
Tijuana Task Force 1
Fidel Gomez & Gemma
Oklahoma Task Force 1
Tammy Robertson & Ally – Tulsa Fire Department
Jessica White & Alder – Oklahoma City Fire Department
Nate Johnson & Dino – Oklahoma City Fire Department
Jeffrey Hanlon & Pepper – Oklahoma City Fire Department
Keaton Rogers & Bubba – Oklahoma City Fire Department
Cody Ashmore & Jack – Oklahoma City Fire Department
Congratulations once again to all the teams who tested and achieved certification over the weekend, including SDF-trained teams Jessica White & Alder, Keaton Rogers & Bubba, Nate Johnson & Dino, and Fidel Gomez & Gemma! We commend these teams for the hard work they’ve put into reaching this milestone, and we sincerely thank our SDF community, whose support fuels our mission and without whom this milestone in SDF’s history would not have been possible!
