Canine Search Specialist and Crown Point Fire Rescue Lieutenant Ryan Cusack with his search and rescue dog Jake in Florida during response to Hurricane Dorian. (Provided by Ryan Cusack / Post-Tribune)

Crown Point Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Cusack and his K9 search-and-rescue dog Jake arrived in Orlando, Florida, on Friday to locate and assist stranded and endangered people in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Ian, which made landfall this week as a Category 4 event.

Jake, a 10-year-old Labrador retriever, is a veteran of seven search-and-rescue missions, Crown Point Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner said. Initially, Cusack and Jake were not supposed to be part of with National U.S. Search and Rescue Response System, Indiana USAR Task Force 1 (IN-TF1) deployment. However, some of the rescue dog handlers tested positive for COVID-19, so Cusack and Jake were pressed into service.

More than 700 people have been rescued in Charlotte and Lee counties, as operations are expected to continue through the weekend, according to a Thursday statement from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It’s unknown exactly where Cusack and Jake are exactly concentrating their efforts. Essentially, their mission will be to look for survivors that might be trapped in the rubble and unable to call out for help.

Crown Point firefighter Ryan Cusack and his K-9 partner Jake demonstrate an over-the-shoulder carry technique that was part of Jake's training to become a disaster live rescue search dog. (Carrie Napoleon / Post-Tribune)

Search and rescue teams use canines because of their incredible sense of smell to detect human scent. The dogs and their handlers are tasked with searching for live and trapped victims during disasters. Like other dogs deployed to Florida, Jake has undergone extensive training to execute his mission. His reward is his favorite tennis ball or tug-of-war toy, according to Baumgardner.

“IN-TF1 originally deployed with 48 members on Tuesday morning to get to a staging area before the storm hit,” he said. “FEMA requested additional resources Thursday, resulting in 34 additional rescuers being activated from Indiana, including Ryan and Jake.

”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,” Baumgardner said.

Baumgardner noted that 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.

The pair has been deployed most recently to Mayfield, Kentucky in December 2021 after a EF4 tornado caused massive devastation, but they’ve also responded to the collapse of an 12-story condo building in Surfside, Florida in June 2021, as well as Hurricane Delta in 2020, Hurricane Dorian in 2019, Hurricane Florence in 2018 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Jake demonstrates his bark alert for a “victim” hiding in a boat. The team has been finding creative ways to keep the search and rescue dogs tuned up and ready to work prior to their deployment to Florida in 2019 after Hurricane Dorian. (Provided by Ryan Cusack / Post-Tribune)