Quake hell

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ed Mike. nd Echo’s d run off. y focused Echo was m the film d run off nt him to. e chair in om under rascal.” t r t so we don’t risk the firefighters’ lives. The building needed to be searched. If the building creaked, Echo would be out straight away.”

Despite the dangers, Mike said Echo loved his job. “He was a real hunter. He liked getting involved, running under the rubble and moving things about with his nose.

“He was fearless and used to get stuck straight in. He’d come out after a search, covered in dust from head to toe, and you could almost see the joy on his face. People sometimes ask, ‘Is it cruel, what the dogs do?’ I say, ‘No, they love it, it’s what they’re bred for’.”

Mike got Echo when the pooch was three months. His dad was a cave rescue dog and his mum a drugs dog.

“I said to him, ‘You’ve got a great life ahead pal’,” said Mike. “The fire service wasn’t really considering dogs back in 2003, but I got a book out of the library and trained him. My friends said it would be impossible but he qualified in April 2006.”

Echo retired in 2013 and still lives with Mike. “We had a gas explosion in Shaw, in which a person died, that was one of Echo’s last searches before retirement,” said Mike. “I have a picture of him afterwards, on the pile of rubble and you can see that he’s old and has had enough.

“He’s a family pet now. He was the first dog I’d owned so there was no way I could give him up.

“He loves coming to the caravan and swimming in the sea. You’d never know to look at him, what he used to do.”

19th recipients of the PDSA Order of Merit, which, to date, has been awarded to seven dogs and ten horses. They will receive their awards at a special ceremony at Lancashire County Cricket Club on October 26.

Dog unit manager Mike added: “I’m very keen for dogs used by us and the other emergency services to get the recognition they deserve. I want the public to know about the incredible work they do, putting their lives in danger on the front line.

“I’m retiring in 18 months’ time and this has topped my career off. It couldn’t have ended in a better way – I’ve achieved

everything I want to achieve now.”