Fire Sniffing Dogs: The Nose that Knows

March 14, 2008

ORLAND PARK, Ill. -- When firefighters need to detect trace amounts of accelerants used to start fires– the human nose alone won’t cut it. But a dog’s can – and as a result, many fire departments are adding canines to the arson-fighting arsenal.

We met with one Illinois pup that went through extensive training to become a firefighter with the Orland Fire Department.

Yancy is trained for sniffing out crime, but she isn’t the typical firefighting Dalmatian. She is specially ATF trained and is one of 12 dogs a year that has received such schooling.

Working with Kevin Smith, an Illinois State Fire Marshal, Yancy might only catch a whiff of an accelerant, but that’s enough to get her fired up.

“You can see they burned in here earlier today, so it’s still fairly warm and hot,” said Smith as he walked Yancy through a training module. “There’s a lot of smoky smells in here, that doesn’t distract her, she’s concentrated on finding an accelerant and that’s all she cares about at this point.”

Before Yancy starts her training, Smith will take a micro drop in a calibrator, then he will lead her to the front door and “she’ll get that in her nose and she knows it’s time to go to work.”

As a certified accelerant-sniffing dog, Yancy is also a federal agent. This protects her under federal law if she were to be assaulted.

As for the rigors of the training Yancy must endure, Smith said, “it’s a commitment that you just have to be willing to put yourself into, especially when they’re food-reward dogs.”

For Yancy, being food-driven means she’s only allowed be fed when she works. Yancy’s and Smith’s lives require around the clock devotion to the five a day training sessions− seven days a week.

“I’ll get up at two o’clock in the morning and train her if I have to,” said Smith about the training regiment he and his partner keep, who also members of the South Suburban Fire Arson Investigation Task Force.

In the world of fighting fires, and crime, this leaves very little free time for vacations, but according to Smith, the payoff is worth it.

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