From 21 to 25 July 2021, numerous search and rescue dog teams completed the IRO Mission Readiness Test in the discipline Area Search in Obertiefenbach, Styria. Only those who pass this chal­leng­ing test can partici­pate in in­ter­na­ti­o­nal disaster mis­sions. 29 teams from five nations took part - 16 of them passed the examination.

As the host organisation, the Ret­tungs­hun­de Verband Öster­reich (RHVÖ) pre­pared the test, which involved days of prac­tice under realistic conditions. The teams were on per­ma­nent standby and had to arrive at the scene as soon as the alarm was raised. Af­ter a short briefing, they were ready to start the search. The scenario was the crash of several fully occupied hot air balloons with several missing persons.

Each search and rescue dog team had to complete two searches during the day and one at night. During the day, they had to sys­tem­ati­cal­ly search two ap­proxi­mate­ly six-hec­tare forest areas within 60 minutes. At night, the dogs had to search a three-kilometre stretch of roadside, also within a maximum search time of one hour. The dogs searched the areas for human scent and did not lose sight of their mission despite dis­turb­ing factors such as mush­room pickers for instance.

The performance of dog and handler was evaluated by an in­ter­na­ti­o­nal team of clas­si­fiers during the entire Mission Readi­ness Test. The handling and ori­en­ta­tion with GPS as well as the performance of first aid mea­sures on the own dog were also exam­ined. Looking after the dog's well-being during a mission is an essential task of the search and rescue dog han­dler.

We would like to express our special thanks to the mu­nici­pal­ity of Hartl for making the Erzherzog Johann Hall avail­able as a central base camp, the vol­un­teer fire brigade of Ober­tie­fen­bach, the Hof­kir­chen and Untertiefen­bach Hunting As­so­cia­tions and the surrounding farm­ers for their support in the organisation.