TEAMWORK UNLEASHED No. 2
Caroline Upton ’88
In 1996, a massive slab of granite plunged down a steep cliff in Yosemite National Park, creating a blast of air that leveled surrounding trees and kicking up a huge dust cloud that darkened the sky. The landslide, which remains one of the park’s worst natural disasters, triggered an extensive search and rescue effort. Caroline Upton ’88 was among those who responded. She had been called out to such operations before, including during a snowstorm on El Capitan, but this landslide marked a significant milestone in Caroline’s search and rescue career. It was the first time she worked with a team that included search dogs. Today, Caroline is the deputy K-9 coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based out of Menlo Park, California. With her black lab, Wawona, and yellow lab, Tulla, she trains two to three times a week in rubble piles, green waste, and other environments to prepare the dogs for potential rescue operations. “It’s truly amazing having a dog as your partner,” she says. “It keeps your ego in check.”
Photo by Wise K9 Photography
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santa catalina / w i n t e r b u l l e t i n
Caroline has been working with search and rescue dogs for about five years, training with and evaluating K-9s and their handlers across the country. Wawona is certified as a “live find” dog, meaning she is trained to find people who may be trapped under debris but still alive. Tulla is certified as a human remains detection dog. Dogs can only be trained in one specialty or the other. Wawona has been with Caroline the longest, but only Tulla has been called to action. “Some dogs may never deploy, even though you train as hard as you do,” Caroline says. “Sometimes that can be a hard pill to swallow, but you make sure that you’re always ready and that your dog is always prepared, strong, and healthy.” At the Menlo Park training facility, Caroline and her fellow canine handlers take turns hiding among piles of rebar, cars, and an overturned bus, waiting in head-totoe protective gear for the dogs to sniff them out. In some scenarios, the person is in a specific, confined space. In others, they are buried and the dog has to pick up their scent and tunnel in. “I know it sounds crazy, but I like the confined spaces,” Caroline says. The dogs enjoy the work as much as she does. She describes them as hardworking, outgoing, fearless, and just plain happy. “I’m so lucky I was able to get these two dogs and take them through the system,” she says. Caroline relentlessly pursued the search and rescue life. After earning a bachelor’s degree in education from University of the Pacific, she started working at Yosemite as an environmental education instructor. She also earned certification as an emergency medical technician, and later as a paramedic, and became trained in wilderness medicine. With these skills in her back pocket, she sought out a place on the Yosemite search and rescue team but was turned away because she didn’t have any climbing experience. “If I hadn't had strength of character and perseverance, maybe that would have been it,” Caroline says. But undeterred, she spent the next year and a half going to every open training available. “Finally the team members said,
