City of Salina Fire Marshal Troy Long and his K-9 Hoke passed the Live-Find Certification Evaluation on April 28 at Crisis City with three other teams from the Kansas Task Force K-9 Unit.

The State Urban Search and Rescue Certification makes them a deployable asset for live-find disaster searches anywhere in the U.S. Five weeks prior, Long and Hoke passed the Foundation Skills Assessment, which made them deployable in Kansas.

Hoke is now one of two working K-9s in the U.S. to be certified as a dual purpose K-9 in accelerant detection/search and rescue. He is also one of four fire department based search dogs in Kansas.

“Hoke has the ability to search and locate living victims trapped in structures and debris caused by natural and manmade disasters in a very short amount of time. He is a valuable resource for our community, state and country,” said Long.