Team Info
Task Force: California Task Force 5 (CA-TF5)
Agency: Orange County Fire Authority
Level: DHS/FEMA Certified
Most Recent Certification: January 2, 2020
Search Dog Info
Breed: German Shepherd/Malinois mix
Sex: Male
Born: June 14, 2017
Recruited from: Private donor in New Prague, Minnesota
Sponsors: Linda Heizer Seaman, Karen B. Winnick
Diesel came to the Search Dog Foundation from a private owner in New Prague, Minnesota, from a long line of purebred dogs in Mexico. Initially brought to the US for a career as a police dog, this German Shepherd/Malinois mix was dropped from that track due to his mixed-breed background. This was great news for SDF, as he had some basic training prior to coming to SDF so he quickly understood what was asked of him during his evaluation, and he passed with ease!
He was a firecracker throughout training, with an amazing personality and unstoppable toy drive! Diesel trained in a household with other dogs so he is both friendly and driven—all the desired characteristics of a Search and Rescue Dog! He took every challenge in our program with tremendous confidence and was able to complete our program quickly.
Having deployed to the Montecito Mudslides in January 2018 on Orange County Fire Authority’s Heavy Rescue 6 as part of RTF-10, Firefighter Imelda Cordova realized during that deployment just how truly remarkable Search Dogs are as well as how effective their work is in the aftermath of disaster. From that moment, when canvasing the hardest hit areas, she realized the Search Dogs around her were far superior, unparalleled and more effective than any piece of technology or tool they had to clear the area and wanted to be a handler herself to help make the biggest impact when deployed.
With 11 years as a firefighter in California, Imelda brought a nurturing presence to the Handler Course and was initially paired with Search Dog Knox. However, Knox was forced into early retirement due to a degenerative spinal condition. The two were already bonded and shared a birthday, so Imelda decided to keep Knox as a pet and continue working in search and rescue with another Search Dog to continue being Part of the Search.
The two began working together in December since Diesel, the top of his canine class at the time, was ready to graduate from SDF’s program–ideal timing to start his career! Instead of holding Diesel back for an o cial Handlers’ Course (scheduled for late Spring 2019), SDF’s trainers felt he was an excellent choice to partner with Imelda.
Diesel was officially paired with Imelda Cordova on January 24, 2019 at the National Training Center. The pair will now work towards FEMA certification as a part of California Task Force 5, based in Orange County.
They will continue to visit the NTC weekly after being paired to fully perfect their skills as a team, and to work with trainers on the skills they will need to test at the FEMA level. Wasting no time at all, the duo is planning to attend a working-dog conference in Florida at the end of the month. Thanks to the additional training time together, we anticipate Diesel and Imelda to quickly certify and will be ready to serve the nation when disasters strike.
These two will train together to achieve Certification next year that will allow them to deploy when disasters strike!