Group volunteers that do not have a canine involved in FEMA’s Mass Task Force search and rescue program take turns hiding in fully concealed spots across Seashore Trolley Museum’s campus to help the active search and rescue dogs train to find live victims. Courtesy photo

KENNEBUNKPORT – A volunteer group so committed to their mission that they haven’t even taken the time to come up with a group name for themselves has been training at Seashore Trolley Museum this winter. The group of volunteers and their dogs are all current or former members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Massachusetts Task Force Search canine search and rescue team.

Nellie, a canine involved with FEMA’s Mass Task Force Team, successfully completes a training exercise at Seashore Trolley Museum. The museum’s Dunedin, New Zealand cable car and materials brought in to conceal the volunteer hiding are used in this live find search, conducted inside a large trolley carhouse. Courtesy photo

Rain, snow, below freezing temperatures, and the mud season have not held this group back from training at the world’s first and largest electric railway museum during their off-season. This group of dog owners is training their canines how to search for live victims and cadavers in buildings, ruble-light building disasters, and wide areas like the New England wilderness. Trolley carhouses, transit artifacts, large fields and the 350-acre campus in general have been used as search sites for this training.

Volunteers involved in this group reside in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. All of them have been involved with this group for over 10 years; some members have been involved over 30 years. If group members are not training their own canines, they are helping set up search areas and hiding in “live find” searches for other canines owned by other members of the group. Four canines in the group are cadaver searching dogs; the rest of the canines are training for live finds.

Volunteers from four New England states have been training their canines at Seashore Trolley Museum during the museum’s off-season to perform searches and rescues in light ruble building disasters and wide outdoor areas. Courtesy photo

The FEMA Mass Task Force search and rescue canine team is deployed regularly. It’s important for the canines’ skills to stay sharp in between deployments as well as for group members to train their younger canines to perform this work when they are older.

Located at 195 Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, Seashore Trolley Museum will open for its 83rd season on Sunday, May 1, 2022. For more information about Seashore Trolley Museum, visit www.trolleymuseum.org.