Marley and Sadie are the newest crew members of the San Francisco Fire Department.
Marley is a 16-month-old Red Fox Labrador Retriever and Sadie is a 20-month-old Yellow Labrador. The job of each dog is to help firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and other first responders unwind and relieve stress from their work.
The dogs were donated to the department by leading service dog non-profit, Thor's Hope Foundation, in partnership with Performance K9 Training, Inc., as they launch a new peer support K9 program for the city's fire department.
They will be introduced to the public Tuesday at a 2 p.m. news conference at San Francisco Fire Station 4, located at 449 Mission Rock St. in the Mission Bay neighborhood.
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According to a department news release, over the last six years the number of suicides nationwide for firefighters and paramedics has surpassed the number of deaths that have occurred in the line of duty.
The addition of peer support dogs can help first responders manage stress, whether related to large-scale incidents, extended deployments or day-to-day issues, according to the news release.
