Oxford EMS launches volunteer K-9 search-and-rescue team for missing-person cases

Oxford EMS has put a 10-dog volunteer K-9 search-and-rescue team into service, adding a fast-moving asset for missing-person calls in a town where wooded terrain and waterways can turn a search into a race against the clock. The dogs are trained for different jobs, including locating live persons and detecting human remains, and the work is modeled on police K-9 standards rather than casual volunteer outings. When someone vanishes in Oxford’s forests or near the water, the goal is simple: cover ground faster and improve the odds before precious hours slip away.

Handler Celeste Robitaille, who also serves as a police officer in Beacon Falls, said the routine is disciplined and professional once the collar goes on and work begins. That discipline matters because the dogs are being used as responders, not mascots. Oxford EMS says the K-9 division operates from an EMS-based special operations structure with incident-command discipline, scene safety, and coordination with fire, EMS, law enforcement, and emergency-management agencies. The team is also available to multiple local departments, extending its reach beyond Oxford itself.

The launch fits squarely inside Oxford EMS’s larger mission. The nonprofit ambulance service has served the Town of Oxford since 1954, and its Special Operations Unit already supports search-and-rescue operations, structure fires, mass-casualty incidents, and major planned events. Seth Poston, listed in the town’s staff directory as ambulance chief, is the face of that system, and his team’s message is that canine scent work belongs in the same operational lane as ladders, radios, and unified command. In a place with dense woods, rivers, and active recreation areas, that kind of speed can change what happens next for local families.

The new team also plugs Oxford into a wider Connecticut search-dog network that already includes volunteer groups such as Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue and D.A.W.G.S., both built around locating missing people with trained dogs and handlers. National groups like the American Rescue Dog Association and the National Search Dog Alliance set training and certification standards for volunteer canine teams, and Connecticut law requires police agencies to develop missing-person policies and training. Oxford EMS’s move, first highlighted on May 3, 2026, shows how a high-drive dog can become more than a sport partner or weekend sidekick. In the right hands, that energy becomes public safety capacity.