This Dog Has a Nose for Arson

By Bill Brubaker (Contact)

Sunday, July 20, 2008

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Rookie Canine Sniffs Out Fire Evidence

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Jimmy, a 21-month-old Labrador Retriever, joined the Loudoun Fire Marshal's Office in March. She is photographed with her partner Investigator William "Bud" Herndon Jr. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Jimmy stands with her partner Bud in one of the burn buildings near the Loudoun Fire Marshal's training building in Leesburg. Jimmy practices searching for sniffer tins with ignitable liquids inside hidden in the building. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Jimmy was featured on a baseball card produced by the Loudoun County Fire Marshal's office. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Jimmy and Bud sit outside the burn building. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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She’s a rookie with the Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office, having arrived in March. But already she has sniffed out 17 key pieces of evidence in 13 fires that accounted for $2.3 million in damage, authorities say.

Her name is Jimmy.

Just Jimmy.

Because dogs don’t usually have last names.

“Jimmy has just been a tremendous asset to our department,” her partner, fire investigator William “Bud” Herndon, said.

The Fire Marshal’s Office recently issued a news release about Jimmy, trumpeting her crime-fighting heroics and, in these budget-conscious times, praising an animal adoption center’s pledge to provide free food and veterinary care to the 21-month-old for the rest of her life.

The free munchies suit the 58-pound Labrador retriever just fine, Herndon said last week with a chuckle, because when Jimmy’s not nosing around smoky crime scenes, she’s on the prowl for her next treat.

“Jimmy’s very outgoing, yet she conserves her energy very well, if you can read between the lines,” he said. “I mean, she’s a little lazy! But when she sees the [food] pouch and knows she’s going to be rewarded, it’s a different ballgame.”

She’s a food-reward dog, which means she doesn’t get treats until she locates what she has been asked to find. With two daily practice sessions, her human partner keeps her busy.

“I hide things for her to find in houses, cars, schools, cracks in sidewalks,” said Herndon, 28. “I might put a single drop of an ignitable liquid on the ground, and she’ll find it. I might put a drop of gasoline on a rock, and she’ll find it.”

The Fire Marshal’s Office on Cornwall Street in downtown Leesburg operates three canine units. Jimmy is the accelerant detection, or arson, specialist. Shadow, a black Lab, is the explosives detection guru. And Grace, a bloodhound, trails scents; she’s often on the hunt for bad guys.

Jimmy began her young career with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a New York-based nonprofit guide dog school. From there she went to Puppies Behind Bars, a program in which prison inmates in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are assigned to raise puppies that will later work for law enforcement agencies or as service dogs for people with disabilities.

Then she was acquired by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which, in turn, offered her to Loudoun. In return for Jimmy, the Fire Marshal’s Office has agreed to make her and Herndon available for ATF investigations outside the county.

The ATF put the duo through a six-week training program in Front Royal.

“They taught Jimmy the odors and the behavior response she should have when she detects the odors,” Herndon said. “The odors being anything from gasoline to lighter fluid to numerous flammable liquids.”

Since March, Herndon and Jimmy have ventured outside Loudoun six times, including once to the District.

“Jimmy made exterior and interior searches locating gasoline cans and other evidence,” Herndon said. “Some of the fires were intentionally set.”

One fire they investigated resulted in three fatalities. Herndon declined to discuss specifics of the fires because the cases are still open, he said.

Food treats aside, it isn’t an easy life being a canine officer (yes, Jimmy is an officer) in the Fire Marshal’s Office.

“Because of the inhalation hazards they face, it’s recommended that these dogs only work five or six years,” Herndon said.

Jimmy will be examined at least twice a year by the nonprofit Briggs Animal Adoption Center in Jefferson County, W.Va., which is providing the lifetime free food and veterinary care.

Jimmy has found some new friends, though.

Under ATF rules, dogs turned over to local law enforcement departments must live with their partners, Herndon said. That means Jimmy had no choice but to befriend her partner’s three pets — Windy (a border collie mix), Anna (a German shepherd) and Storm (a Shetland sheepdog).

And what do the three dogs think of their starry new roommate?

“They get along great,” Herndon said. “The very first night they were together, they were all sleeping on top of one another! It was pretty unbelievable.”

Tagged: dog

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