ECO's attend Accelerant Detection K-9 Program

A DEC Lieutenant and Environmental Conservation Officer met with members of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to take part in a Accelerant Detection K-9 Program in late March. The program gears up K-9 handlers and their dogs to assist in local and county level fires.

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- A DEC Lieutenant and Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) met with members of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to take part in an Accelerant Detection K-9 Program in late March. The program gears up K-9 handlers and their dogs to assist in local and county-level fires.

DEC Lt. Robert Higgins and ECO George LaPoint were taken out on Lake George alongside other ECOs, allowing their K-9s to familiarize being on a boat if there was a fire on an island or a location only accessible by boat. The program prepares K-9s and their handlers to help fire investigation teams, county fire coordinators, fire chiefs, police, and local government with suspicious or unusual fires.

The fires that handlers and K-9s respond to sometimes include death, explosions, costly losses, and serial fire setting. Once off the boat, the training continued with an accelerant detection training on shore.