Search and rescue dogs trained by a firefighter touched the lives of 18 people
After the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras, 'Gece Vonbir' and 'Vondi', two dogs trained by firefighter Birol Meki from Konya Fire Department, played a crucial role in rescuing 18 people from the rubble in Hatay where they were assigned to work for search and rescue operations.
Following the earthquakes, Konya Fire Department teams were assigned to work for search and rescue operations in Hatay. Birol Meki, a 35-year-old firefighter who provided live search and rescue training for Vondi and Gece Vonbir, two dogs he trained himself, took them with him to the site. Vondi and Gece Vonbir were also utilized during the rescue operations in the rubble. The trained dogs focused on a specific point on the debris when they were walked around the rubble at certain intervals, and the teams concentrated on the area, resulting in 18 people being rescued alive.
Birol Meki, who brought his dogs with him to the earthquake site on the day of the disaster, said: "After the earthquake, I contacted our fire chief. He told me to 'prepare the dog immediately'. We prepared the dog and arrived in Hatay that evening. But there was no life, no electricity, nothing in Hatay. One's psychology is completely affected as soon as they arrive there. As a team, we conducted search and rescue operations for those who were making sounds from outside and those who were closer. Since it was dark, we started the search with our dogs the next day. We identified the locations, and the Konya Fire Department took them out. The incident that moved me the most was when we rescued a 3-year-old girl from the rubble the day before, and the next day, our dog 'Gece' located her mother, and we rescued her from the rubble. A mother and her child were reunited, and that made me very emotional and proud. With my dogs, we saved not just one, not just two, but a total of 18 lives."
