The Norristown Fire Department's arson dog, Kindle, was honored for her work.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (WLVT) - Meet Kindle, the first and only arson dog in Montgomery county. The 6-year-old English Labrador retriever loves her owner and partner, Norristown Fire Department Chief Thomas O’Donnell, with whom she’s been working since 2015. She also loves chasing her green ball.
But her real work is helping find how fires started.
“She’s a single-purpose dog, meaning that the only thing she does is accelerants,” O’Donnell said.
Kindle is trained to smell fire accelerants, substances that help spread a fire.
“Charcoal fluid, oils, motor oil, gasoline, true fuel,” O’Donnell said.
Finding one of these accelerants can help investigators decide if a fire was accidental, or it can lead them to whoever set the fire.
“She’s actually very excited to go to work right now,” O’Donnell said, holding Kindle’s leash tight as she strained toward Montgomery County’s fire training facility. “She knows there’s a hide somewhere in the building behind us, and she can smell it. You’ll see her nose start to go in the air.”
When released and ordered to find the accelerant, Kindle immediately ran to a small piece of burnt wood and alerted O’Donnell to it by sitting down and pointing at it with her nose. He rewarded her with a toss of her green ball, which she caught on chewed upon joyously.
Kindle was a big help catching a serial arsonist in January of this year. Forty-nine-year-old Donte Royes Williams of Chester was suspected of several fire bombings in Lower Merion Township.During a car stop, Kindle’s remarkable sense of smell led her to find accelerants in Williams’ car, according to police. Williams was arrested and is currently housed at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville while he awaits trial on two felony counts of arson, one felony county of possession of explosive/incendiary materials, and two misdemeanors.
Kindle was honored for her work in September when she won the National Liberty Museum’sValor in Emergency Response (Team) award. Now in its 14th year, the Awards of Valor honor emergency response and law enforcement workers from the greater Philadelphia area.
“She loves people. She loves doing her job,” O’Donnell said.
For now, she gets to go back home and enjoy some belly rubs.
“In every other way she’s a regular family pet,” O’Donnell said.
But Kindle’s work never really ends. She and Chief O’Donnell do regular training to detect and find accelerants, and she has to get recertified as an arson dog every year. That way, she’s always ready for the next call.