Ground Zero Search Dog Hero | Salt Lake City News

A Utah woman, Nancy Hachmeister, recounts her harrowing yet deeply meaningful seven-day stint at Ground Zero after 9/11, working the night shift with her search dog Ivey to recover bodies and bring closure to grieving families. Trained as a search and rescue specialist and founder of Utah Search Dogs, she’s dedicated her life to finding missing persons — a mission fueled by her own trauma when her father vanished for 33 days after being killed in 1979. Though she refuses to call herself a hero, crediting first responders as true heroes, she acknowledges the devastating long-term cost: several teammates and all four dogs deployed to New York later died of cancer linked to exposure. Still, Hachmeister remains committed to her work, inspired by the unity and compassion that defined those post-9/11 days — believing if the world embraced that spirit, it could be transformed for the better. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/7403521b04b2bf81