Here is a blog about an arson dog in Florida that warmed my heart...
ARSON? HIS NOSE KNOWS
2014-12-05
By Laura C. Morel
Times Staff Writer
CLEARWATER - Steven Raynard Jones walked away from the apartment he shared with his wife as flames inside killed her two cats.
Hours later, Pinellas sheriff's deputies located Jones, 45, at the El Rio Motel off Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg. He denied setting fire to his home in the unincorporated Clearwater area, but Quincy was not fooled, police records show.
The 8-year-old Labrador mix with big floppy ears and bright brown eyes sniffed Jones' clothes and sat down, indicating he'd detected fuel.
Quincy got a handful of Iams dog food, but Jones was booked into the Pinellas County Jail, where he awaits trial on charges of animal cruelty and first-degree arson.
The Oct. 2 blaze is among nearly 50 fires that Quincy, the county's only accelerant-detection dog, has responded to within the past two years. He is among roughly a dozen dogs with the same training in Florida.
"He's a time saver," said his owner, Clearwater fire inspector Ron Neuberger. "He's another tool in our toolbox that we use to determine the cause of a fire."
Quincy had a humble upbringing: he was among dogs up for adoption at the Pet Pal Animal Shelter in St. Petersburg.
Neuberger's family was looking for a dog in 2007 when his daughter saw Quincy, 6 months old at the time, huddled in the back of a cage. But when the girl and pup made eye contact, Quincy scampered to the front of the bars to play with her.
They took him home.
The pup was a furry bundle of energy, Neuberger said. And smart, too: he'd bring dead lizards into the family's house. Neuberger would toss them in the front yard, but Quincy would always sift through the grass and find the lizards again.
"We knew right away," Neuberger said, "he was meant to do something."
Employed with Lealman Fire and Rescue at the time, Neuberger asked the fire commission if Quincy could receive accelerant-detection training; the county's previous dog had recently retired.
The $25,000 training was approved and Quincy spent six months at the Florida Canine Academy in Safety Harbor.
There, puppies learn "imprinting": when they smell gasoline, they get a treat. Instructors later teach the pups to sit whenever they've detected an accelerant.
In 2012, Neuberger and Quincy transferred to Clearwater Fire and Rescue. Although the dog, which costs the city $700 a year in food and recertification costs, is based in Clearwater, he can respond to fires throughout Pinellas when firefighters can't determine the cause of a blaze. Since he is trained to identify accelerants, he can quickly help investigators rule out arson.
Any areas alerted by Quincy are sent to a forensic lab to confirm the presence of an accelerant.
This year, he has been to Palm Harbor, Largo, Pinellas Park, Lealman and Indian Rocks Beach, records show.
Pinellas Park fire inspector Greg Banghart has seen Quincy's work first-hand. Plastic inside buildings typically melts to the ground during a fire and may resemble a puddle of fuel. For fire investigators, it takes hours to sort out any traces of accelerant from the rest of a charred structure.
For Quincy, it takes only minutes. Sometimes, seconds.
"He gives us instant knowledge right then and there," Banghart said. "It makes us more efficient and it makes us more accurate."
Contact Laura C. Morel at lmorel@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4157.
Follow @lauracmorel.
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