ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — After State Farm insurance stopped funding its arson dog program, impacting fire departments across the nation, a group of firefighters in Adams County is working to ensure these dogs are around for years to come.
Arson dogs play a key role in helping determine the cause of many fires. Part of their job is to sniff out accelerants before they evaporate. Without these dogs, it can take longer to investigate a fire, costing taxpayers more money.
JoJo is one of more than 100 arson dogs working at fire stations across the country. If a fire is set on purpose, she will know in a matter of minutes.
“Anywhere we go, she is nose down sniffing,” said Dawn Tollis, inspector, investigator, and K9 handler with Adams County Fire Rescue.
At just 5 years old, the black lab has a pretty impressive resume.
“She’s partnered with me on some high-profile cases,” Tollis said. “Helped put a couple bad guys away. If it weren't for her, it would have taken us much longer to be able to find out our culprit was.”
"There's a lot that they can do, and they go through a lot of rigorous training,” said Ryder Robison, a fire investigator with Adams County Fire Rescue.
It costs anywhere between $25,000 and $35,000 to train an arson dog. A State Farm program used to pay for this training, but Adams County Chief Fire Investigator Jerry Means said the insurance company stopped funding the program several months ago.
No more money means JoJo and the other canines can't get recertified, and no new dogs can join the force unless local departments foot the bill.
"I wasn't ready, in my 42 years, to just give up on the program, let it go away,” Means said. “Not acceptable. So I founded International Fire Dogs, and it provides accelerant detection canines to all the fire departments in the United States and Canada.”
Means is the founder of International Fire Dogs, and Ryder is board secretary. The nonprofit is only a few months old, but it's already making a difference.
"We've already personally funded next year's training to keep the dogs that are already in service working,” Means said.
Now the challenge is coming up with $1 million annually to keep the training program going.
"That's the challenge and we can't fail,” Means said. “I can't fail. Ryder can't fail."
The nonprofit is looking for a corporate sponsor to help fund the training and recertification program. They're asking people to help them spread the word.
“We need the public to promote this to everybody they know,” Means said.
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