Well, Here she is ! What a knockout! Our Emma !
Emma is the newest member of the
East Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company
Emma is a Search and Rescue Dog and the newest member of the Fire Department. Emma's owner Jason Webeck is also a new welcomed addition to the department. Emma is also being trained as a cadavor dog. Emma takes her place on the Fire Engine when we respond to accidents, fires and all emergencies. More will be posted about Emma as time goes on.
Emma training with the STAT crew at Vestaburg Park
The East Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department has gone to the dog, and in this case, it’s a dog-gone good thing. The recent donation of Emma, a 3 year old yellow lab, offers our department another excellent tool to continue our mission of faithfully serving our community. Emma is in the process of certification and learning what it takes to be a premier search and rescue canine. Using her natural, superior skills, we will not only broaden the scope of our rescue efforts, but also have a viable, relatable tool to educate the public in the hopes of preventing future mishaps. The road for a search and rescue dog is not a easy one. The pooch spends many hours a week honing her skills, practicing so that when called upon, she is ready to go. When not training, most times she is getting the exercise needed to keep slim and trim for the strenuous nature of her work. There are some perks to being a SAR dog though, she has got to fly in helicopters, travel on planes, see and sniff so many different places and people. Her favorite place so far is Thursday night bingo, where she is able to meet and greet, secure butt scratches with her perfected “you know you wanna pet me” look, and to make sure the firemen have less to sweep up by sniffing out all the crumbs. When its time to work though, she is the first ready to go and takes her job very seriously. Feel free to stop by and say hi, your guaranteed to get at least a tale wag!
Emma says enough pictures, lets go for a Helicopter ride
This is more like it, up up and away, STAT going to the Dogs !
Emma would like to thank the fine folks at Wiredog and Petjoy. "Between
keeping me equipped to perform my search duties with Engine Company 15, to when I'm just "hot dogging" around town, they ensure I'm the safest, best dressed, and dog-gonnit, the best looking member of the department.
They get a FourPaw rating in my book!"
www.petjoyonline.com
FREDERICKTOWN – Jason Webeck planned to train his young yellow lab as a hunting dog until they went for a hike in Arizona and heard a woman screaming. The dog, Emma, scaled the rugged terrain among the red rocks of Sedona, becoming the first to find the woman wedged in a crevice as emergency crews were arriving.
“We just heard this god-awful screaming and nobody could find her,” said Webeck, “That experience taught me she’s a naturally able cadaver dog.”
When he decided to join the East Bethlehem Township Fire Department, Webeck enlisted the three-year-old Emma as the department’s first search-and-recovery dog. “It’s been a great success. The firemen here have been wonderful,” Webeck said.
Emma and Webeck are in the process of obtaining certification in search and recovery, and should have it within eight months.
Meanwhile, people have come forward to donate the cost of training and equipment for the dog, Invisible Fence just gave the department an oxygen recovery kit to use on pets that suffer from smoke inhalation. Emma’s water recovery training is being donated by the J & K Canine Academy in Florida.
East Beth firemen plan to focus Emma’s attention on making it easier and safer for the department’s scuba team to search and recover bodies in the Monongahela River.
“She has an intensity, a drive. I can’t keep up with her,” said Webeck, who works at Greenlee Funeral Home.