MORGANTOWN – It takes a special breed to go to work at 16 months old.
And if you want a job sniffing out arson with the Morgantown Fire Department, that breed is Labrador retriever.
Representatives of the MFD made the rounds this week introducing the community to Chance, an accelerant detection canine and newest member of the department.
On first encounter, Chance is what you’d expect of any young pup – curious nose and wagging tail in search of a belly rub or scratch behind the ears.
But the playful personality belies both the level of her training and the serious work to come.
Chance’s handler, Deputy Fire Marshal William Lyons, said his new partner’s demeanor flips like a switch when the time comes.
“When we’re just doing our day-to-day, or we’re at home, she just behaves like any other dog. She’s sociable and engaging when she’s not working,” he said. “But when I have all the equipment on, she pretty much ignores everyone and everything else and she’s on the ground hunting. She’s in seek mode. It’s go time.”
But even at home, the training never stops.
Lyons explained that Chance eats all her meals out of his hand as reward for completing the varied and constant training scenarios he sets up.
“It’s all training, but it’s all a game to her. It’s all a food-based reward game, and labs are great for that because they’re very food driven,” he said. “It’s all hide-and-seek to her, when it comes down to it.”
Chance originated from a prison rehabilitation program in New York called Puppies Behind Bars that serves as a feeder program for working dogs. From there, she was selected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for training in accelerant detection in Front Royal, Virginia, where Lyons joined her for the final six weeks of instruction.
Chance is trained to sort through the damage left in the aftermath of a fire in search of a specific range of scents, including light, medium and heavy petroleum distillates, isoparaffins and gasoline, among others.
If she detects the presence of a known accelerant, she sits and awaits a confirmation command, upon which she places her nose on a specific mark.
“If there’s something there that leads to the possibility of arson, we’ll run the dog. Then what she does is locate places to take samples for evidence. She’s really an evidence collection tool. But because she can’t take the stand, we have to send that evidence off to the lab for a chemist to validate all of her findings,” Lyons said.
While dogs have long been a part of firefighting lore – think Dalmatians riding shotgun, sirens blaring – MFD Chief Gary Freshour said it’s been nearly 100 years since a bulldog, Doc, served as the company’s mascot – and, according to lore, may have pulled a person or two from a burning building.
“You can’t really put it into words, and I think it’s just a unique opportunity. We get to provide an opportunity for certain members to have advanced specialities in their career that they wouldn’t necessarily have,” Freshour said. “You become elite by having all these things in-house in your own department. There’s only 24 municipalities in the United States that have this option, and we’re one of them.”
Morgantown Fire Marshal Capt. Jason Quinn said Chance’s presence in Morgantown provides service that will extend beyond city limits.
“That’s one of the purposes of it, to provide, when available, assistance to other municipalities, state agencies, government agencies to assist in fire investigations,” he said. “That’s what her sole purpose is and that’s why the ATF gives these dogs out, to provide that opportunity.”
The MFD’s selection to receive an accelerant detection canine through the ATF is a minimum five-year commitment from the department. During that time, Chance will be constantly evaluated on both her performance and overall health.
Chance’s handler will have the opportunity to adopt upon her retirement.
