Lemont Firefighter, K-9 Train For National Certification

LEMONT, IL — Lemont Fire Protection District firefighter Rami ElShareif has known for years that he wanted to eventually be a firefighter and a search and rescue K-9 handler.

ElShareif told Patch he was a senior in high school when 9/11 happened.

"Something sparked inside of me that I wanted to be a fireman," he told Patch. "Specifically a search and rescue K-9 handler."

Now, his goals are becoming a reality, with the help of his K-9 partner, Magnus. Magnus is a 1-year-old East working line German Shepherd.

ElShareif and Magnus are training with the state's Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team. The task force includes search and rescue specialists, structures specialists and hazardous materials specialists. The task force will respond to both in-state and out-of-state disasters, if needed.

Magnus and ElShareif will attempt national certification in October, which is the earliest Magnus can test due to his age. Magnus is training to be a live find K-9, and is learning how to navigate and search out live victims, ElShareif said.

ElShareif, who has been a firefighter with Lemont since 2008, said he and Magnus train in West Chicago, where they do various tests, including burying himself in rubble and training Magnus to find him. Once a K-9 finds a live victim, they are trained to "alert," and will bark for 30 seconds.

"It's in essence a really, really big game of hide-and-seek," he said. "It's pretty incredible what their noses can do."

ElShareif is the first person on the task force from the Lemont Fire Protection District, he told Patch.

"This has been a career goal of mine," he said. "I'm getting to live the dream."

You can check out some of Magnus' training below in a video from Lemont Fire Protection District's Facebook page. Magnus' training also includes learning the ladder climb, which is necessary for dogs who may be working the scene of a structural collapse, the fire district said on its Facebook.