BREC-K9 Brigade And Rescue Dogs Mexico

In the last two years, 26 earthquakes occurred around the world with more than 2500 fatalities, not to mention those that have shaken the world in the past years for their intensity and destruction.

During earthquakes and natural disasters, trained rescue brigades play a fundamental role in tracking people under the rubble. Today rescue dogs make the work more efficient by being able to track a person in minutes.

BREC-K9 is a multidisciplinary group in Mexico with volunteer firefighters, paramedics and active dogs trained to attend national and international disasters. Their mission is to support voluntarily any country that suffer from an emergency with their equipment, dogs, and brigadiers.

Some of their outstanding volunteer work was during the Indonesian Tsunami in 2004, the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, the Nepal Earthquake in 2015 and the Mexico Earthquake in 2017, as well as local disasters in Mexico such as fires, floods, hurricanes, etc.

The training program lasts approximately 2 years since the volunteer shows up with his or her puppy.

The pair goes through a full training that goes from basic to advanced obedience, socialization and a search game that little by little becomes a search and rescue simulation of people in collapsed structures.

Then, only after a specific selection, they are considered ready for disaster support. Members are trained with the firefighters specialized in search and rescue. Some of them, as paramedics, are instructed in the handling of demolition tools.

Although today they can provide support anywhere in the world, there are still infrastructure needs that limit the volunteers from completing certification. The main ambition of the project is to bring resources to finance the search and rescue dog training program through purchasing equipment and recruiting rescuers. Another goal for the Association is to generate awareness through communication campaigns to expose the work of the brigade as well as the search and rescue dogs.

Ultimately, the purpose is to have a team that can be ready with the training and the right equipment to react to any global emergency in natural disasters. But most importantly, to save lives thanks to the people and the dogs.

“To apply as a volunteer for the brigade, we first seek that you love living and helping anyone without expecting something in return. It may be jarring if you put your life at risk every day, but you know the value of a breath and will do everything in your hands to save lives.

Victor Castillo - Mexican Brigade Leader

“To apply as a volunteer for the brigade, we first seek that you love living and helping anyone without expecting something in return. It may be jarring if you put your life at risk every day, but you know the value of a breath and will do everything in your hands to save lives.“

Victor Castillo - Mexican Brigade Leader

“After spending 7 days under the rubble, the Mexican rescue team managed to free Ena ZiZi: a Haitian woman. They told us not to go in, but we have been working here for 2 days. They told us that security was a factor to consider and it was true, there was danger, but we did not come on vacation, we came to save lives.”

Oscar Oliva, BREC - K9 Brigade President (Haiti earthquake)