VIDEO: The Cosumnes Fire Department is celebrating a historic first for the department. Captain Justin Quarisa and his K-9 partner, Ruffles, have become nationally certified as a live find canine search team after training in Southern California through the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Ruffles is now an official member of Cosumnes Fire with her own employee ID badge and will continue training each day in preparation for the next emergency.
“She adds something that we just can’t do, which is have a phenomenal nose,” Quarisa said. “When she is running around, she covers way more ground than I could cover, she’s using her nose constantly and she’s able to smell things, pick up things, just the animal intuition in general.” The duo will now deploy with Sacramento Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 7, a FEMA-affiliated team managed by Sacramento Fire.
