LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – When a fire sparks in the valley, investigating the cause can take weeks, if not months.
Nearly one month after a tragic house fire killed four family members, FOX5 is talking with Clark County Fire Department’s K9 team about their role in those investigations.
K9 Countess is a four-year-old black Labrador retriever with a strong nose and great attention to detail. She works as an ignitable liquid detection dog alongside her handler, fire investigator Ron Mauro.
“There’s unscented ignitable liquid that she picks up on,” Mauro said.
Her training often includes Mauro hiding ignitable liquid scent in cans so Countess can pick up on them.
“I’ll see her tail waging faster if she is searching in this direction and catching a scent,” Mauro said.
FOX5’s Victoria Saha: “How often does Countess pick up on something that you and your team might have missed?”
Mauro: “Very often. Fire scenes are very destructive you can have multiple floors collapse on each other.”
Mauro also explains that Countess can pick up on things that could be four or five layers down. While investigating the fire on Langhorne Creek fire, Countess found herself sniffing through multiple layers of debris following the house’s collapse.
“What we did do when we removed the debris around the bodies, we made sure to run her multiple times to make sure there was no ignitable liquid,” Mauro said.
Mauro also added that the layers of debris following the collapse had to be extracted layer by layer.
“Starting from the outside, [we] put them in quadrants so that we knew what we were removing,” Mauro said. ”Then I would run Countess over those areas, and she would tell me if there were any ignitable liquid detected.”
However, if the fire is still active, K9s like Countess will be held back until the situation is safe. For extra safety, Countess is required to wear special booties before going on scene.
Additionally, if any bodies may still be inside the structure, a cadaver dog will be sent in before investigators like Countess.
For Langhorne Creek, a cadaver dog was not needed as investigators noted that the remains of the bodies were “evident.”
Saha: “So you would say her safety is just as important as the safety of our firefighters who had to leave because the structure started to collapse?”
Mauro: “Absolutely. Countess is a federally funded dog by the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire Arms Bureau.”
An investigation into the Langhorne Creek fire is ongoing, but as of now, Mauro says foul play is not suspected.
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