London Fire Brigade have given us an in-depth look at their dogs that help sniff out the causes of fires.

Sherlock , Murphy and soon to be retired Roscoe may look like any other dog you find on the street, but they possess a special skill.

Specially trained to identify a variety of ignitable substances, the four-legged pooches assist with criminal investigations to help determine whether a fire was started deliberately.

Using their keen sense of smell, the dogs have helped the Fire Investigation Team provide a higher level of accuracy and improve the conviction rate against people who deliberately start fires.

According to London Fire Brigade, the speed that they can sniff out ignitable substances has reduced the time required to investigate the scene of a fire.

If nothing is found, the Fire Investigation Team can focus on other sources of ignition.

Training the fire dogs

London Fire Brigade fire dogs are selected at a young age based on their high drive for play.

They follow a positive reinforcement based training programme, rewarding them with a tennis ball each time they detect an ignitable substance.

At fire safety college, the dogs get tested on a number of disciplines such as finding substances in:

  • A single room
  • Multiple rooms across multiple floors
  • Hard to test areas such as letter boxes and under stairs

Once they have detected an ignitable substance, they will wait by their discovery for further instruction from their handler.

When investigating, the dogs wear little boots to protect their paws from shards of glass and other sharp objects but rest assured, the dogs are never sent into hot scenes and there has been no report of any injury to any fire dogs while working.

The dogs are typically in service for almost ten years once trained and go to annual training refreshers to ensure they aren't barking up the wrong tree.

Caring for the fire dogs

London Fire Brigade's fire dogs all live with their respective handlers who are responsible for their welfare needs.

While on duty, London Fire Brigade provide facilities such as kennels and special transportation.

The organisation reiterate that they adhere to Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act and take steps to protect their fire dogs such as sustainable diets, protecting them from pain, suffering and disease and ensuring they exhibit normal behaviour.