ONE of Northern Ireland’s leading search and rescue organisations, from Newcastle, has secured a major partnership with easyJet, meaning its dogs and their handlers will be able to be quickly deployed to support life-saving missions across Europe and beyond.
The Search and Rescue Dog Association Ireland North’s collaboration with the airline will enable the team’s urban search and rescue dogs to be quickly mobilised to reach disaster zones as far away as North Africa.
This partnership has been described as “invaluable” by the charity, whilst easyJet said it is “a great privilege” to have joined forces with SARDA IN.
Saving lives across the world, SARDA IN search dogs are one of the most important first responders to major disasters at home and globally.
Founded in 1978, and entirely run by volunteers, SARDA IN over the past 40 years has provided their specialised search and rescue service to disasters across Ireland and beyond, including earthquakes, war zones and tragedies.
Major rescues undertaken by SARDA IN include, sadly, the recent Creeslough tragedy in County Donegal, rescues in the Mourne Mountains, earthquakes in Turkey, Pakistan and Algeria, the December 1988 Lockerbie Air Disaster and at the time, support to the 9/11 disaster in New York, as well as working with partners and international rescue teams abroad.
Moving forward, if team members are being deployed from UK airports, it will mean the highly skilled dogs can be on the scene quicker and more efficiently at disaster zones and critical incidents.
Equally as important, for the dogs involved, travelling in the aircraft cabin can reduce the stress and potential risks associated with their transportation.
With flights to over 120 destinations across Europe and North Africa from 21 UK airports, this new partnership will, as SARDA IN and the airline explained, make it easier for these vital working animals to support life-saving missions.
This will allow them to respond swiftly to any international crises, ensuring faster mobilisation of their urban search and rescue dog teams to deliver critical aid where it’s needed most.
SARDA IN has provided specialist search and rescue services to disasters worldwide for almost five decades.
The emergency organisation’s search and rescue dogs are deployed by various bodies, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, mountain rescue teams, and the Gardai.
Trained in various specialist disciplines, these highly trained dogs can locate high-risk and vulnerable missing people in diverse environments, such as mountains, open countryside, forests, urban areas, watercourses and disaster areas.
Speaking at the recent partnership announcement, Raph O’Connor, SARDA IN Training Officer, said: “As a volunteer-based organisation and registered charity, SARDA IN deeply values the critical support provided by easyJet.”
The local man continued: “Their offer of free flights enables our dedicated handlers and highly trained urban search and rescue dogs to be rapidly deployed to international disaster zones.
“This invaluable assistance will ensure that we can reach those in urgent need without delay, allowing us to focus on saving lives, knowing that travel logistics are no longer a barrier.”
Describing this partnership as “groundbreaking”, Raph said this collaboration “represents a significant step forward” in terms of disaster response and humanitarian aid, “ensuring that our trained urban search and rescue (USAR) dog teams can now travel swiftly and efficiently to international disaster zones, when required by the appropriate authorities.”
He added that this bespoke policy, created by easyJet, not only highlights their commitment to social responsibility but also solves a long-standing logistical challenge for SARDA IN.
“It allows our USAR dogs to travel in the cabin with their handlers, coupled with 24/7 booking support, priority boarding, priority seating and no associated costs, ensuring that our life-saving dog teams can reach affected areas without delay.
“This achievement underscores the importance of collaboration between organisations dedicated to saving lives and those with the resources to support them. Kudos to the easyJet team for going above and beyond, and to our USAR dog teams for their relentless dedication to training and readiness.”
Raph concluded: “Our hope is that many lives will be saved through this inspiring initiative!”
The charity’s public relations officer, Raph’s wife, Clair, said this collaboration “is an inspiring example of how organisations can come together to make a tangible difference in the world and we are excited about the positive impact it will bring.”
Outlining how the partnership came about, Clair said it all began about 18 months ago, with a friend of a friend putting SARDA IN in touch with the Base Captain for easyJet, David Kelly.
“He was delighted to assist us in any way he could to make it happen,” commented Clair.
She continued: “We are delighted to share the exciting news about our recent partnership between SARDA IN and easyJet. This collaboration marks a transformative step forward in our mission to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies and international disasters if we are called upon.”
As part of this partnership, easyJet has introduced a dedicated system to ensure the charity team can access flights at any time, with bespoke policies now in place – meaning a tailored travel policy exclusively for SARDA IN.
Clair said the fact flights are now available means that there will be “complimentary access to flights for international disaster response” to the SARDA IN cohort, and allowing the dogs to travel in the cabin with their handlers, will ensure “they are ready to perform upon arrival”.
She concluded: “This partnership alleviates a significant logistical hurdle that has challenged us in recent years. It ensures we can deploy our life-saving teams without delay, no matter the location or circumstances.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to easyJet for their unwavering support and commitment to our cause. A special thanks to David Kelly, Ryan Duffield, and Katie Isaacson for their dedication and efforts in making this partnership a reality.”
The airline’s Ali Gayward added: “easyJet is incredibly proud to be able to support Search and Rescue Dog Association Ireland North.
“As the largest airline in the UK and in Northern Ireland, it is a great privilege for us to be able to offer our network of over 560 routes from 21 UK airports, to help their teams deploy quickly to wherever they are needed most for their life-saving missions.”
Since its inception, SARDA IN – which is a registered charity – has been training and deploying qualified search and rescue dogs in the north and south of Ireland, the UK and internationally in numerous SAR disciplines.
They are the only registered voluntary SAR (Search and Rescue) dog team on the Northern Ireland Search and Rescue (NISAR) assets register, which falls under the overall direction of the Department of Justice NI (DOJ) and, in addition, the only registered voluntary dog team from anywhere across Ireland with membership of the International Search and Rescue Dog Organisation (IRO), which is the international governing body for SAR dogs.
SARDA IN regularly attend joint training exercises with their global partners, Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID UK) to ensure their readiness for any future deployments.
The charity also has a Memorandum of Understanding with both the NIFRS and SARAID UK, which it is extremely proud of.
In addition to being called out by police and the fire and rescue service, the team’s dogs are tasked and deployed by mountain rescue teams across Ireland and the UK and the Gardai to incidents 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
All its dogs are trained in several specialist disciplines to locate high risk/vulnerable missing persons in the mountains, open countryside and forests, urban search and rescue, watercourses, trailing and cadaver, both at home and abroad.
Currently SARDA IN have 16 qualified SAR dogs and a further eight in training from a wide variety of breeds such as an American Coonhound, Retrievers, Border Collies, German Shepherds, a Sprocker, Labradors, Dutch Shepherds and Springer Spaniels, all of which work, invaluably, alongside the emergency services.
