Search and Rescue Strike Team

07/14/2026

TRAINING ALERT:

On Tuesday, July 14th, K9/Drone Search and Rescue Strike Team will be conducting training in New Lenox for their monthly drill. There will be an increased presence of police and fire vehicles throughout the fire district and village during the hours of 9am and 3pm.

This is very valuable training for area K9's and drone operators to hone in their skills in the event of an emergency or large scale incident!

05/21/2026

This week, 3 K9/Drone Search and Rescue Strike Team K9 handlers traveled to New York City to participate in an open K9 training hosted by NYPD ESU/New York Task Force 1. K9 teams from Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, Lockport Township Fire Protection District, and Hillside Fire Department trained alongside teams from Canada Task Force 3, Indiana Task Force 1, FDNY K9, and Penn Vet Working Dog Program. Training trips help sharpen our skills and keep our members prepared for emergency response. Thanks to MABAS-Illinois/IL-TF1 and their respective departments for sending our members, and their continued support of our K9 Teams!

05/09/2026

This past Thursday, members from the K9/Drone Search and Rescue Strike Team participated in a major MABAS-Illinois water rescue exercise in the City of Oglesby, Illinois. Water rescue teams from IL-TF1, IL-WR1, and MABAS Divisions 14, 15, and 25 performed rescue evolutions along the Vermillion River.

K9 Teams from Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, Hillside Fire Department, and Lockport Township Fire Protection District participated in boat acclimation drills while Drones from Niles Fire Department and West Chicago Fire Protection District provided over watch for the boat teams, preformed search operations, and UTV support with transporting victims, personnel, and equipment. Our command Chief form Glenview Fire Department provided command support and incident coordination from the base of operations.

The exercise concluded with the SRST, in conjunction with local Police and Fire Department personnel, preforming a wide area search of over 1900 acres at Matthiessen state park river area. The team searched for 11 missing people and located all 11 victims within 2 hours of operations.

05/04/2026

Lockport Township Fire Protection District highlighting our team for their Sunday spotlight!

***Spotlight Sunday***

This week’s highlights the dedicated members of our K9/Drone Search and Rescue Strike Team

Our SRST exists for one simple reason...to help bring people home.

We have 2 highly trained K9 teams certified in US&R Type 1 Live Find, along with NAPWDA tracking, trailing, area, and building search. Supporting them are 9 FAA Part 107 certified drone pilots who provide a critical aerial view during search operations.

Together, this multi-agency team brings K9s, drones, command staff, and UTV support into one coordinated effort.

Working alongside MABAS-Illinois (IL-TF1) and neighboring departments, our team uses every available tool and technique to locate missing individuals as quickly and safely as possible.

04/14/2026

Be weather alert this evening if you are located in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin!

Multiple waves of thunderstorms are expected tonight with an associated severe threat level of 2 and 3 of 5. The highest tornado and destructive hail threat remains across far northern Illinois (north of black dashed line). Additional storms are then expected through the overnight hours. Have multiple ways to receive warning information, including ways to wake you up at night!

03/13/2026

On March 10, two SRST members from Lockport Township Fire Protection District and their K9 partners, responded down to Kankakee and Aroma Park as part of the muli-division MABAS-Illinois mutual aid response to assist with search and rescue operations in the aftermath of severe storms and a damaging EF-3 tornado. Many of our team members are part of their department's divisional Technical Rescue Teams, in addition to their responsibilities on the Search and Rescue Strike Team. If needed, our boots on the ground would request additional SRST units, but luckily, there was not significant injuries and/or missing people. Event's like these highlight why we train so often and so hard to always be prepared when disaster strikes.

03/10/2026

First round of severe spring storms are upon us. Please take preparation seriously.

Event's like this are what we train for weekly. Our team is always ready.

[12:12 PM CDT Tuesday 3/10/2026]

The NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center has upgraded a portion of the area to a threat level 4/5 (Moderate Risk) for severe storms later today into this evening, shaded in red on the map, which is for areas primarily south of I-80.

Within the level 4/5 area, the main concerns include damaging tornadoes (potentially strong) and/or destructive hail >=2" in diameter.

Given the current southwestward progression of a lake enhanced cold front, it still appears that areas farther northeast in the level 4/5 (moderate risk) are more likely to have a significant hail threat vs. a significant tornado threat. As we continue to assess the progress of the front and where it ultimately stalls this afternoon, we'll be able to better refine the area of greatest concern for damaging tornadoes.

Within the level 3/5 (Enhanced Risk) area, particularly areas north of the level 4/5, the main concern is for damaging to potentially destructive hail, with localized wind damage also a possibility.

To read the text of the outlook discussion, go to: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

12/29/2025

Thank you RED Center for representing our team. Way to take home the win, thanks for all you do for us.

11/12/2025

Please join us in congratulating our incredible team members and their K9 partners!

Today these hardworking teams successfully completed their NAPWDA certifications, showing outstanding skill, dedication, and teamwork.

They earned certifications in:
🐾 Trailing
🐾 Tracking
🐾 Wide Area Search
🐾 Building Search
🐾 Obedience
🐾 Article Search

We couldn’t be more proud of the effort and commitment each team puts into training to better serve our communities. Great job, everyone!

Hillside Fire Department
Lockport Township Fire Protection District
Roselle Fire Department
Romeoville Fire Department
New Lenox Fire District

10/31/2025

A big thank you goes out once again to Richardson "World's Largest" Corn Maze for having us out to train this week. We have used the farm several times, and continue to come up with more realistic and challenging training scenarios for our team.

The SRST trains twice a month and utilizes real locations to hone in our search and rescue skills.

Fun fact... One of our drone operators family own the farm.