JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — As firefighters gain control of fires up and down the front range, the focus in Jefferson County is now shifting to figuring out how the Quarry Fire started. The sheriff’s office is trying to figure out if someone set it on purpose. An arson investigation relies on dogs trained to find clues in the burned forest.
"Our goal is to find where the fire started, what caused the fire and ultimately, if need be, if it’s not an accidental fire, we want to make sure whoever started the fire is held accountable," Brian Eberle, a Fire Investigator and K-9 Handler with the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC), said.
Eberle and his arson dog named "ROTC" aren’t working on the Quarry Fire investigation. Another team from DFPC working with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is handling it, but Eberle and ROTC know exactly what is needed to help figure out if someone set the fire in Jefferson County on purpose.
"We’ve rewired their brain to think that hydrocarbon smell, that ignitable liquid, means food," Eberle said. "They are very food driven. They always want to eat. We show up on scene, give them that command, and they’re looking for that odor because that means they get to eat. That’s their payday."
The dogs are specially trained to find hydrocarbons, also called flammable liquids. They can pinpoint the exact spot where a massive wildfire started.
"It’s not just like oh it’s over in this area," Eberle said. "They’ll take us right to where that strongest odor is. We’ll pull them off and start going through the rubble and yup, sure enough right under all that burnt debris there is a gas can."
The Division of Fire Prevention and Control has three new dogs to help find clues in the rubble and help law enforcement find answers to other crimes.
ROTC focuses on arson.
Hiccup the bloodhound can track scents for miles. He can help law enforcement find missing people or help with search efforts.
Moose is trained to find human remains, oftentimes in the middle of dozens of acres of burned land.
The arson dogs go through an insane amount of training, and there aren’t very many of them. Right now, there are four in the state, but for a long time, there was only one. These dogs can show up to a fire days after it started and still pinpoint the exact location where an accelerant may have been used. It’s a massive help to investigators working on these fires.
They’ve earned the badges they wear around their collars.
"They are definitely an invaluable, unmatched, unrivaled asset for investigations," Eberle said.
As far as the Quarry Fire investigation goes, the sheriff’s office is being very tight-lipped. They are investigating it for arson, though that doesn’t necessarily mean someone started it on purpose. The dogs working on that fire right now will be a crucial part of figuring out what happened.