(Photo courtesy Crown Point Fire Rescue Facebook page)
(Photo courtesy Crown Point Fire Rescue Facebook page)
In Crown Point, Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Cusack and K-9 Jake were activated for their seventh deployment with the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System, Indiana Task Force 1 (INTF-1) to help those affected by Hurricane Ian. Jake, a 10-year-old Labrador Retriever, is a live-find search and rescue dog, trained to find survivors after disasters who may be trapped in a collapsed building or swept away by a storm. A news release from Crown Point Fire Rescue also said previous deployments for the local duo include Hurricanes Delta, Dorian, Florence and Matthew, the collapse of a condominium in Surfside, Florida, and the 2021 tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky. Cusack and Jake have been with Indiana Task Force 1 since 2013, but their home team is Indiana District 1 Technical Rescue, hosted by Crown Point Fire Rescue.
Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner stated, “As a department, we are always very proud of Assistant Chief Cusack and K-9 Jake when they are deployed with INTF-1. When they go into these types of disaster areas, they are not only representing the State of Indiana, but the City of Crown Point. With the generous support the community has continued to show to our K-9 program, the City of Crown Point and its citizens are directly supporting the search-and-rescue efforts of Hurricane Ian and that is something everyone from Crown Point should be proud of.”
