Duluth Fire Department welcomes a new K-9 for fire investigation

Duluth Fire Department welcomes their newest K-9 member. Jack, a two-year-old yellow lab is trained for searching the source of fire in DFD’s investigations.

Duluth Fire Department Chief Shawn Krizaj, said there’s been a lot excitement and training to get this program started.

“One of the things that I would like to highlight is that we are planning on this being a regional program. There was a K9 investigator that was housed originally in our area at Cloquet fire district,” Chief Krizaj said. “That K9 has since retired out. So we were looking to fill that gap in our region in our area. So we took that upon us, and our responsibility for the city of Duluth.”

Lisa Consie, the Duluth Fire Marshall said Jack’s first day was on April 1st. He even has a badge number 413.

“Jack’s job within our investigation team is to sniff for and detect ignitable liquids at our fire scenes, such as gasoline. That would be an ignitable liquid,” Consie said. “He’ll act as a fire scene mechanism for finding any of those ignitable liquids that may have contributed to a fire starting or a fire that spread or grew. He can smell down to a very minute amount, which we may miss with other means that we’ve been using in the past. So he’s an extremely valuable partner to our team.”

If Jack detects a location, an investigator can then collect a sample for evidence. Then it will be sent to the BCA for further analysis and confirmation.

For more information about Jack you can read more here. Also for other stories with the Duluth Fire Department you can read more here.