PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The newest member of the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office is putting her nose to the ground and helping the department sniff out gasoline and other accelerants that may have been used by someone to intentionally set a fire.
That member is Agnes, an 18-month-old black Lab and an ATF-certified accelerant detection canine.
“Anytime there is a fire and there is believed to be an accelerant used, we’ll come out and we’ll try and walk through and see what she can detect on the property,” said Lt. Dan Cliggett, assistant fire marshal with the Philadelphia Fire Department and Agnes’ partner.
Agnes is only the second ATF-certified accelerant detection dog in the Philadelphia Fire Department.
“She was slated to be a part of the Guide Dog Foundation and she had a couple of mishaps and didn’t get through that process, so the ATF went down and ran a few tests with her and they thought she would be ideal for their program, which she turned out to be,” said Cliggett. “A career change for the better.”
At a camper fire scene in North Philadelphia Tuesday, Agnes put her new skills to the test. Authorities said a suspicious fire broke out at a camper parked near 19th Street and Ridge Avenue.
Cliggett calibrated the dog by putting an accelerant, which was brought to the scene, on a piece of trash. He then gave Agnes the command of “seek,” and she immediately put her nose to work to find a similar scent.
After some detection work, she sat down to alert her handler of a possible accelerant.
“Her tell is when she finds an accelerant and then she’ll sit on location,” he added. “I praise her, I feed her, and then I ask her to show me again where she found it and she’ll put her nose right to that spot.”
Fire debris was collected and sent to the crime lab. Once the results are in, police detectives can take the case from there.
The Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office has been using ATF arson detection dogs for 30 years. This is the first time the department has more than one.
Agnes joins Dona, a yellow Lab who has been in the department for about six years. Both dogs received their training at the ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) National Canine Division in Virginia.
“There is probably a need for a third dog, even maybe a fourth dog,” Cliggett suggested. “We are extremely, extremely busy here. We are probably one of the busier fire marshal’s offices in the country, with the amount of call volume and personnel that we have.”