Vote for Zoom: KCKFD K9 Up for Grant
Published on October 21, 2021
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Zoom has been nominated for the 2021 Aftermath K9 Grant. Zoom is competing with other working K9s from Fire and Police Departments across a seven state region. The K9 with the most votes is awarded a $5,000 grant to be used for food, medical supplies, training equipment, or training costs. Voting is easy, click on the link below, and return tomorrow as you can vote daily until October 26. Anyone and everyone can vote, so please pass this on to family and friends.
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About Zoom
Zoom is a 4-year-old male yellow Labrador Retriever and is a "live find" search K9. Also referred to as a disaster dog, a live find K9 is non-scent specific which means he does not require a person's scent to locate them. Zoom can locate any live person within an area where he is sent to search, whether in a building collapse, natural disaster, or manmade disaster. He can also do wide area searches for missing persons or to ensure an area is clear of people.
Zoom is from the breeding program at Ground Zero Emergency Training Center in Tuttle, OK. Ground Zero is a nonprofit organization that breeds, begins training, and pairs these K9s with handlers from across the country. Once a K9 is paired with a handler, the handler continues the training and takes tests to achieve certifications to place the dog in service.
About Mike Searcy and Zoom
Mike Searcy and Zoom were paired together through a partnership between Ground Zero and the Kansas State Fire Marshal's Office (KSFM). KSFM oversees the Kansas State Task Force and its K9 unit. Mike was selected out of 99 statewide applicants for one of the first two Ground Zero dogs in Kansas. Through an agreement with KSFM and the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department, Zoom may work for KCKFD as Mike sees fit. At any time, the team may be called upon by the state for K9 search operations. There are now three Ground Zero dogs in the state (Kansas City, Manhattan and Wichita).
Mike Searcy took possession of Zoom on December 28, 2018. Zoom took, and passed, his first Type 2 test just three months later and he was placed in service under that certification. Since that time, Zoom has tested three additional times, including a Type 1 certification per the FEMA National Standard Test Criteria. Zoom has never failed a certification test. After a dominating performance on a very difficult Type 1 test, Zoom is now eligible for national deployment for disaster response across the United States.
Zoom is one of 12 Type 1 Live Find K9s on the Kansas State Task Force. He is one of four live find K90s rostered on a professional fire departments in the state and the only live find K9 working with a fire department in the Kansas City Metro. He has been requested, deployed or searched 25 times so far.
Zoom is trained to a high standard in obedience, agility, directional control, victim commitment, and search for live humans. Mike Searcy is Zoom's handler and partner and they train daily together, on or off-duty from third shift. Zoom lives with the Searcy family and, when he retires around the age of 10, he will continue to live there. This dynamic duo is on-call 24/7 and often respond from home.
A special thank you to Mike Searcy for providing this short biography on Zoom.