National Arson Awareness Week Honors Canines

National Arson Awareness Week runs May 3-9.

The Louisiana Fire Marshal and Department of Homeland Security's United States Fire Administration are using the week to focus on the value and contribution accelerant detection canines make to fire departments, law enforcement agencies and their communities.

The theme for 2015 is 'Accelerant Detection Canines - Sniffing Out Arson." These dogs are trained to sniff out minute traces of ignitable liquid accelerants that may have been used to start a fire.

Check out some stats from the U.S. Fire Administration:

From 2010-2012 an estimated 17,400 intentionally set fires in residential buildings were reported each year, resulting in 275 civilian deaths, 800 civilian injuries, and $513 million in property losses.
Compared to about six million olfactory receptors in humans, a canine can possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors, making their noses tens of thousands of times more sensitive than that of humans. Further enhancing the canines ability is an organ in the roof of the mouth, not present in humans, which allows the dog to essentially taste a scent.
While humans can make educated guesses about possible accelerant use, they are still required to collect an average of 20 samples of fire debris for laboratory analysis. A dog’s nose, however, greatly narrows down the guess work. Higher quality lab samples speed up the investigation, subsequently resulting in higher conviction rates.

For more information concerning National Arson Awareness Week and the value of accelerant detection canines, please visit lasfm.org, or the U.S Fire Administration’s website.