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SALT LAKE CITY -- Four new canine members have been added to the Metro Fire Agency.
After an "intense" eight weeks of training in conjunction with the Utah Police Academy, these dogs and their handlers have been been graduated and received POST search and rescue certification.
"We have the ability to look for people trapped in collapsed buildings, earthquakes," said Zackery Hatch, a member of Utah Task Force Five and the West Valley Fire Department.
"He does tracking and trailing for missing children [and] elderly walk offs," he said.
Hatch has had Biscuit, a British Labrador, for about a year, but in the last few weeks they have had some "long hard days."
"They've taught us how to take a puppy to the end product," he said.
The dogs are ready to deploy immediately, should the need arise.