Introduction. Advantages of using dogs for Fire Investigation. How does a Fire Investigation Dog work? The Team. 4.1 Sam. 4.2 Sarah. Our Sponsors. Fire Investigation Dog Leaflet. 1. Introduction. The Fire Investigation Dog Team works as part of the Arson Reduction Team, a partnership between East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service and Sussex Police set up to target arson in our community. Dogs are particularly effective at searching cold, post-fire scenes for the presence of flammable and ignitable liquids that could have been used to start or promote fires deliberately. 2. Advantages of using dogs for Fire Investigation.

• Dogs have a superior sense of smell to humans.
• Dogs can detect the presence of flammable fuels with greater sensitivity and accuracy than electronic field equipment.
• Dogs can differentiate between hydrocarbons produced naturally during combustion and those introduced in illegal fire setting.
• Dogs can search a large area quickly and efficiently.
• Dogs can reduce the time an investigator spends on excavating and sampling fire debris.
• Dogs reduce the number of samples required for expensive forensic testing.

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3. How does a Fire Investigation Dog work?

• The dogs are trained to locate a wide variety of flammable liquids and can even identify their presence amongst fire debris.
• The Fire Investigation dog attends fires where arson is suspected. The dog searches the fire scene once the fire is extinguished and the scene is cold.
• Sam wears special boots when he's working. He also wears a reflective harness and line to prevent him getting into danger.
• The vapour given off by a liquid accelerant is tracked down at speed by the dog.
• The dog indicates the location of the substance by pointing at the source with his nose.
• The dog is then rewarded by the handler for a successful 'find' and a sample is taken away for forensic laboratory examination.
• Success is based on highly skilled training and the respect, trust and bonding between dog and handler.

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4. The Team.

4.1 Sam.

Sam is a very energetic and enthusiastic liver and white English Springer Spaniel. He was born in February 2004 and bred specifically as a search/sniffer dog, his mother is a trained drug detection dog and his father is an explosives dog. Sam was trained by SCS International in Lancashire. Sam lives at home with his handler. The bond between dog and handler is so strong that when he retires he will remain with the handler for the rest of his natural life.

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4.2 Sarah.

Sarah Jones is the Fire Investigation Dog Handler teamed with Sam. She has 28 years experience with East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service at Lewes and Eastbourne. For the past 20 years Sarah has been involved with breeding, training, competing and working gundogs.

After completing an intensive training course in Lancashire and passing several examinations, Sarah and Sam went operational in East Sussex in mid February 2005 and became one of only 12 teams in the UK. The team will be tested annually at the Fire Service College in Gloucestershire to ensure that they maintain their operational status. What Sarah says about Sam "Sam is such a happy little dog, full of life and enthusiasm. He loves his work and he loves to play. We enjoy a very special relationship based on trust."

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5. Our Sponsors

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6. Fire Investigation Dog Leaflet

Click here [pdf - 391 KB] to download the information on this page in Leaflet format.

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