EMERGENCY responders joined a special training day with their four-legged colleagues. 

Essex County Fire and Rescue Services organised a training day with Essex Police's firearms support dogs last week. 

The intensive training aimed at elevating rope rescue skills of the police dogs Khan, Troy, Luther, and Bella. 

Throughout the day, a number of exercises simulated real-life scenarios and introduced the dogs to the harness they would have to wear in case of an emergency rescue. 

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The furry responders practised being lowered through a hole alongside their handler to practice controlled descents through confined spaces. 

In the afternoon, the dogs underwent a session involving ascents to heights of up to 25 metres for them to get used to the height and feel of the equipment. 

Fire and rescue service dog handler Graham Currie, who ran the training, said: “The officers and their dogs have performed really well during the training.

"A big thank you to the professional rope skills of Essex B Watch USAR and Technical rescue rope team for helping during the day.

"Sharing these skills is essential in allowing for better collaboration between us and the Police during incidents. 

“By familiarising police dogs and their handlers with the intricacies of rope rescue operations, police officers can communicate what safe systems they need in place from us when we arrive at the scene.

"Making the overall emergency response more efficient. 

“Our Fire Investigation and Search and Rescue Dogs are rope rescue trained for all scenarios so it makes sense for us to provide this training to our emergency colleagues which allows us to work in partnership and continue to develop our own skills.” 

The final exercise of the day was using a cableway system set up to transport a handler and their dog across an incident. 

Essex Police Training Sergeant for the dog section, Paul Screech said: “We are grateful to our colleagues in the Fire Service who allow us to expose our dogs and handlers to different environments that ensures they are fully prepared for whatever is thrown at them during operational deployments.”