Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
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NEWS SCOPE PRODUCERS Rescue dogs spot FEMA certification at Aggregate Industries site Aggregate Industries (US) of Waltham, Mass., and Massachusetts Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team (MA-TF 1) hosted a Federal Emergency Management Agency Canine Certification last month at the producer's Littleton, Mass., operation. Twenty-four rescue dogs—mostly Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds or collies from across the country—and their handlers underwent rigorous test- ing, including a search for volunteer "survivors" under specially designed rub- ble piles replicating those in FEMA events. Aggregate Industries built a K-9 testing facility at Littleton in 2010, when it first hosted the certification with MA-TF 1, one of 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces. Enthusiastically concurring with the cer- tification site selection, Aggregate Indus- tries (US) CEO Bernard Terver notes, "FEMA, MA-TF 1, and the rescue dogs do an incred- ible job and perform an indispensable serv- ice to both our nation and the world." "To be able to focus in the chaotic envi- ronment of a disaster-site, urban search and rescue dogs need to be comfortable working on rubble piles of collapsed build- ings," adds MA-TF 1 Assistant Program Manager Anita Arnum. "This can only be achieved by training and testing exercises like the one in Littleton. We greatly appre- ciate the company's contribution and on- going support and thank them for providing realistic training conditions." Rescue dogs and handler teams must be re-certified every three years, submitting to tests of their command control, agility, barking alert skills, and willingness to over- come fears of tunnels and wobbly surfaces. Handler teams represented Task Forces from seven states, including TF1–Virginia. 20 | JULY 2012 WWW.CONCRETEPRODUCTS.COM