This time on Community Connects there’s a dog in the spotlight. Calgary Fire Department’s ignitable liquid detection canine, Willow, and fire investigator, Jodie Grisdale, join Marissa Reckmann, CEO, AGAT Laboratories, and Director, AGAT Foundation, to explore Willow’s job in helping uncover the facts in fire investigations.
“She has taken us down a few paths that we weren’t expecting, and finding ignitable liquid,” says Grisdale. “But her rate for a sample coming back from the lab positive for an ignitable liquid is in the 90 to 95 percent range.”
Grisdale has been with the Calgary Fire Department for 17 years, but it was just seven years ago when she took on the role as fire investigator. Her role involves finding origin and cause of fires that happen within the City of Calgary. But more recently — for the past five years — she’s had the help of Willow in her investigations.
“I have done some experimenting with our handheld detector versus Willow… a room this size [est. 800 sq. ft.] would take me maybe an hour with one of the handhelds,” says Grisdale. “Whereas Willow and I could clear this room in maximum five minutes.
“Her ability to distinguish between hydrocarbons is way more precise, I feel, than the instrument that we’re working with. So to be honest, I haven’t used that electronic device in a long time.”
As dogs are said to have a 100,000 times better sense of smell than humans, it’s no wonder Willow is an asset to fire investigations. While ignitable liquid detection canines are not as common in Canada, they’re used more frequently in the United States, says Grisdale. And that’s exactly where Willow got her training.
“I went down to Maine and New Hampshire. I arrived, and Willow was there all ready to do work,” said Grisdale. “She had been trained prior to my arrival. She’d been imprinted already on the scent. In this case, it’s 50 per cent evaporated gasoline.”
Ignitable liquid detection canines are also known by another name — arson dogs. Since 1993, the State Farm Arson Dogs Program has provided training for more than 435 dogs and their partners across 46 states and three Canadian provinces. And that’s exactly how Willow and Grisdale met.
“I had to spend one month, which was about 200 hours, learning to work with her. She knew her job. It was now up to me to figure out how to learn and observe her and figure out how we were going to work as a team.”
Outside of work, Willow has a life similar to a household pet in many ways.
“She does everything that other dogs do. We go for walks every day, we play in the yard, she’s very social,” says Grisdale.
“The only time where she’s off limits is when we’re on scene. I pull out my food pouch, and that’s it, she’s fully focused and ready to work.”
Hear more about Willow’s day-to-day in fire investigation and see how she detects ignitable liquid in the latest Community Connects video.
English 
Français