Roseville

Sniffing out the secrets behind fires

By Sara Kandel
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Sara Kandel Fire Marshal Craig Robertson is Windy the arson-sniffing dog’s handler at the Roseville Fire Department. Photo by Sara Kandel Fire Marshal Craig Robertson is Windy the arson-sniffing dog’s handler at the Roseville Fire Department.

ROSEVILLE — The Fire Department in Roseville has a secret weapon — it’s a 4-year-old.

Well OK, maybe Windy, an accelerant detection dog, isn’t such a secret. Departments around the region know about her and utilize her quite frequently, but she certainly has surprised a criminal or two.

Windy, a Labrador retriever, doesn’t cost the city or its taxpayers anything — she was purchased and trained, and is cared for, through grants and donations, but it did take a lot of hard work to get her to Roseville.

She was purchased and trained through a grant offered through State Farm Insurance. The grant is valued at about $45,000, and it covered the cost of purchasing an accelerant dog, the first year of her care, her training and the cost of bringing the handler to participate in a five-week training program with the dog.

“It’s basically teaching us how to work with the dog,” said Fire Marshal Craig Robertson. “But most of it is bonding; you’ve got to have that animal want to be with you, want to work for you. If you don’t mesh, it’s not going to work.”

Robertson has been with the department for 17 years. He heard about the program from a now-retired Eastpointe fire marshal.

He applied four times before he was approved for the grant.

“When you submit the application, the school looks at all the applications and they take the people who are more in need.”

At the time, there were two other accelerant detection dogs working in Michigan, one in Detroit and one Up North.

“My last time applying — when I got approved — was going to be my last time pursuing it because I had been turned down, and then I got a letter saying ‘congratulations.’”

In August 2009, Robertson flew out to Maine to participate in the training program and meet Windy — she was 1 at the time.

She started off in school in Florida to be a guide dog, but Robertson said she had some educational issues and she flunked out of the program.

“She couldn’t keep from chasing rabbits and squirrels, which isn’t really conducive to being a guide dog.”

Luckily for Roseville, a fire marshal there who was with the arson detection program picked her up and started to work with her and test her sniffing capabilities. Windy took to it like a pro. She spent six months in Florida training, then was sent to Illinois to work with a trainer there, before going to Maine and getting matched up with Robertson.

“They try to put each dog with a handler that is conducive to their personality.”

Windy and Robertson were a perfect match. She’s playful, gentle and loyal, and plays well with children. Robertson has two kids.

After the program was over, Windy came back to Roseville with Robertson and went right to work helping solve fire crimes.

“Right when we first got her, we had a string of Dumpster fires and she was able to help us catch the guy, so for us, the opportunity paid itself off in the first couple of weeks,” said Mayor John Chirkun.

She works side by side with other firefighters, but her job starts after the fire is put out. Her command to work is “seek.”

She walks through the rubble nose down, searching for any hint of an accelerant. Once she finds one, she follows it to the place where it is strongest and sits there.

Robertson bags the evidence she indicates has residue from an accelerant on it. She detects hydrocarbon accelerants like diesel, kerosene and gasoline.

Windy regularly assists fire investigations in Roseville and Sterling Heights, and has helped out in other cities across metro Detroit.

“She’s constantly working and constantly training,” Robertson said. “Both in her mind and her body, she is probably one of the healthiest dogs you’ll see.”

She’s happy, too. From her crate in Robertson’s office she almost appears to be smiling. She gets a lot of attention at home and at work.

On an average day at the station, she runs drills and plays hide-and-go-seek with Robertson. Of course, she works and also gets lots of walks from the guys at the station.

“She still has a lot of puppy in her, but she is a hard worker and she’s good at what she does,” Robertson said.
 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Sara Kandel at skandel@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1030.