KUALA LUMPUR, 29 — When a search and rescue operation for victims or objects gets complicated, the authorities turn to their canine counterparts for help.

The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department’s (JBPM) K9 Tracker Dog Unit excels in search and rescue operations, particularly in challenging terrain where human capabilities are limited. Their dogs can navigate through heights, depths, and narrow spaces to detect movement or obstructions.

In the recent sinkhole incident on Jalan Masjid India, despite various efforts taken to locate missing tourist, Indian national Vijayaletchumy, 48, who fell into a sinkhole last Friday, it was the K9 Tracker Dog Unit that breathed new hope into finding the victim.

The K9 unit dogs deployed at site detected an obstruction caused by an object lodged between the sinkhole and the second sewage chamber, located approximately 80 metres away.

The sniffer dogs from the K9 team detected a strong indication in an area which later supported by a camera device, suggested that the victim may be trapped there, thus shifting the search operation to that area.

Malay Mail takes a dive to understand how this K9 Unit could successfully detect movements, illegal substances and obstructions in the most difficult of circumstances.

What is K9?

The term K9 or K-9 is an abbreviation of the English and French word canine, which simply means dogs.

These dogs are specially trained to assist members of law enforcement, for instance the police and fire and rescue departments.

Among the breeds that are commonly trained to be in the K9 units are German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Basset Hounds, Bloodhounds, Border Collie, English Springer Spaniel and Labrador Retrievers due to their unique talents in tracking, trailing, and detection skills.

With the help from the K9 Unit, the authorities could shorten the period of search and rescue operations as well as investigations.

As of 2023, JBPM has 30 canines, six of which were stationed in Sarawak, four in Sabah and the rest at the K9 Unit headquarters in Jalan Klang Lama, here.

Who trains them?

For the Fire and Rescue Department, each dogs will have their own handlers. The handlers, who are selected personnel from the enforcement, will train the dogs for about five or six days in a week.

The handlers must be able to understand the dogs from every perspective. They must be able to recognise the dog’s behaviour and pay constant and close attention to it.

The most common criteria required for being a handler is that the person should have patience, love animals and have no allergies.

What do they do?

There are mainly three jobs these canines would carry out for the fire and rescue team:

1) Fire investigation

The dogs are trained to sniff out accelerants that cause fire in cases of arson. They are also trained to smell for any possible explosives.

The Labrador and English Springer Spaniel breeds are commonly used for this task due to its stronger and better sense of smell.

2) Cadaver dogs

These dogs are specially trained to locate dead bodies. Their ability is to locate bodies that are buried, in open area, underwater, wilderness or other similar terrains.

These dogs are also tasked to locate corpses or body parts in the event of an explosion, fire or natural disaster.

3) Wilderness dogs

These dogs are trained for "wilderness” — to track missing people in forest and jungles or similar terrains.

What have they achieved?

In January 2023, four canines from the Fire and Rescue Department’s K9 unit received the “Golden Performance” medals for their service during the Batang Kali landslide tragedy in December 2022.

In October 2023, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim elevated the K9 Unit by recognising its role and improving the facilities and medical treatment for the canines under the Malaysia Madani Budget 2024.

Last year, canines from the Fire and Rescue Department’s K9 unit was also deployed to help with the search and rescue mission for the earthquake victims in southern Turkey.

Unlike police and army dogs, Bomba dogs are extremely friendly and playful and get to play fetch as a reward. They do not get “punished” or scolded harshly either.

The dogs are also popular among the public due to their adorable and friendly gestures.

According to the Malaysian news portal Siakap Keli, social media users on TikTok have been calling for increased television coverage of the Police K9 Unit during Independence Day celebrations since 2022.

According to the website, the canines’ latest rehearsal video, which saw the pooches donning sunglasses and shoes for this year’s Merdeka Celebration shared on X, had already received 12.6 million views as of this afternoon.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/08/29/explainer-what-is-the-fire-depts-k9-unit-and-how-crucial-is-its-role-in-the-search-for-the-missing-indian-tourist-who-fell-into-sinkhole-on-jalan-masjid-indiavideo/148630