Lorraine Grevlos and Trooper, Tornado, Spencer, South Dakota, 5/30/98 At 9 p.m., May 30, 1998, a tornado hit the little town of Spencer, South Dakota. It completely demolished the town of 310 residents. Lorraine Grevlos and her 3-year-old German Shepherd, Trooper, members of the Minnehaha Sheriff’s Department Emergency Management, were immediately called to search for victims. After waiting for the storm to pass her city, Grevlos and Trooper arrived at 11:30 p.m. At this time only one path had been cleared through the city. There were no street signs or intact buildings left for landmarks. Fortunately, Grevlos was accompanied by the postmaster of Spencer who, in spite of the rubble, was able to identify every home and apartment in town and who lived there. Throughout the night the dog and handler searched buildings where people had been reported missing. The first search area was a 2-story house that had imploded. The sky was overcast and raining, and no generators had been set up, so the only light available for the search were people Grevlos set up at the perimeters of the house with flashlights pointed toward the ground. That way she could see the edges of her search area. Trooper had some interest in the center of the rubble and did an evidence alert on a child’s doll, but had no full alerts. There was no one left in this house, but a severely injured person had been pulled out of the rubble earlier. The next search area was in a cluster of housing across from the command post. An elderly woman was missing. Trooper searched the area, ran under a roof into cement pilings, and lay down, his alert for deceased victims. Searching through the rubble, Grevlos found a bed sheet with blood on it where a deceased victim had been removed three hours earlier. Grevlos sent Trooper into two basements and through the rest of the apartments with no alerts. She told the command post that the elderly lady was not in that rubble. Later that night Grevlos and Trooper were sent through the housing complex again to make certain that the lady was not there. Again Trooper did not alert. The next day the lady’s body was found 600 yards away under eight feet of debris. This debris pile was not searched the first night because it wasn’t where a building had been. Another house Grevlos and Trooper searched was next to a fuel oil tank that had exploded, spraying fuel everywhere. The oil did not seem to affect Trooper’s scenting abilities. He jumped up on the deck of the house, ran over three dead squirrels, and went down on his front end between the decking indicating on a stick with blood and human flesh impaled on it. A victim had been removed here. Rescue workers were certain two more people were missing here. Grevlos sent Trooper into a four foot gap between the basement and broken windows of the house (house blown off foundation). She couldn’t get down there, but was certain that Trooper had not found anyone. Later it was found out that the victims - one live, one dead - had been removed earlier. Although Grevlos was able to send Trooper into the basement of the house, he refused to climb up the rubble on one side of the house. Deciding that the dog knew better than she did, Grevlos stopped directing him up there. Later a firefighter started up the rubble pile where Trooper had refused to go. Grevlos called out to him that her dog wouldn’t go there and he should get off. He scrambled off just as the pile gave way under him. Trooper gave a live alert on a man who was rocking back and forth in the remains of his house where he had just lost his wife. Grevlos saw that he got assistance. Grevlos and Trooper worked nine hours on the search with breaks for water and food. On one break Trooper suddenly took off down the street. He headed straight for the Red Cross van, got a sandwich, ate it, and then returned to Grevlos. It was an exhausting search for both of them - physically and emotionally. On the trip home Grevlos called her vet and met her at the clinic. Trooper was thoroughly examined. He had pieces of glass embedded in his pads and lacerations between the pads. Trooper had never shown any indication of the injuries when he was working. As a final note, Grevlos found an American flag under the rubble of a house. She recovered it, cleaned it off and took it to the command post where it was flown in honor of the dead of Spencer, South Dakota. You can contact Lorraine directly at dalagrev@splitrocktel.net.

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