Sept to Oct 2007
Echo at work29th October - 4th November - Cracker has a busy week assisting the Police and Echo goes looking for a missing person…
What a hectic week for Cracker! It started on Monday morning with a request to attend a house which had recently been set on fire in Swinton. I searched with Cracker for signs of accelerant (e.g. petrol, paraffin etc which may have been used to start a fire). She did very well and gave an indication on the outside of the property which can be investigated further. As we were leaving the incident, we were redirected to the city centre to search a large open plan storage area which had recently had a fire. There was a lot of fire debris in the building and I was concerned about Cracker’s welfare but as usual she just got on with her job with no complaint! However, she did not find any accelerants on this job.
On Tuesday morning, Greater Manchester Police requested we search a car that had been involved in an arson attack (see the photograph below). It was really interesting and not something that Cracker had done a lot of before but she was so enthusiastic, she even managed to nearly get stuck in the boot of the car!
On Wednesday and Friday, Cracker attended two more house fires and managed to detect two more ‘finds’ of accelerants which provides the Police with vital evidence and helps to confirm to the Police that arson has taken place so they can catch the person/s responsible. I am so pleased with Cracker’s efforts.
Cracker searches a carIt was Echo’s turn to get his paws dirty on Thursday as he was called to assist in the search of a missing person. We searched an old hospital complex but despite Echo’s best efforts of searching the building, he found nothing but it was a good experience for him.
22nd - 28th October - Crime scene investigation...
Our Fire Investigation Unit instructs on a course run for Police Officers on scenes of crime. This week, I took Cracker to this course and she was used to search the buildings that the Police Officers were training in. She did very well and indicated an accelerant in the building that had been set on fire with petrol.
Echo did his usual round of search training and also undertook some training with the Police Dog Unit. The main objective for Echo in the coming months is recertification so its an all out effort to get him top of his game so he can continue to be used as an Urban Search and Rescue Dog. Keep logging on over this period to see how he is getting on with his training.
8th - 14th October - I take a fall after a difficult training exercise and Cracker educates pupils about arson...
This week, Cracker visited a school to show the kids the dangers of getting involved in fire starting. She was a big hit as usual! You can read more about arson by visiting our
stay safe section. Echo went out training with Bolton Mountain Rescue team again and undertook a very difficult night search over open moorland in the dark and driving rain. At one point during the search I lost my footing and fell over in the dark conditions. Echo came rushing over to see if I was ok - luckily I was fine.
Cracker did some training on accelerants (e.g. petrol, paraffin) with her usual success. She is such a terrific search dog for that type of work. On Thursday I had a forensic student with me for the morning. She was interested in finding out about the dogs and the life of a dog handler.
Echo1st – 7th October – Meeting with Lancashire’s dog team…
This week hasn’t been too busy for the unit – Echo was called out on Wednesday to search for a boy who had gone missing in the Hyde area. Fortunately though he was found just before we released Echo to look for him. We also went over to see Lancashire Fire’s Urban Search and Rescue Team and meet their new dog handler and his dog which is a collie. We hope to work together in the future to train the dogs.
There has been some mischief between the dogs this week – Cracker attempted to steal a ball from Echo whilst they were out exercising which resulted in Cracker getting a cut lip. However, she's a sly girl and has since got him back!
24th – 30th September – Cracker has successful ‘finds’ on two incidents and Echo attends the national assessments in Manchester…
It has been a busy week for the dogs. It started early in the week with a ‘shout’ (a callout) for Cracker to a suspected arson attack in Chadderton. On arrival I was briefed to carry out a search of the ground floor area. Cracker worked very well but she did not find any traces of accelerants (e.g. petrol, paraffin which could be used to start a fire).
Later that week we attended an incident in Aston- under- Lyne where Cracker had three fantastic ’finds’ of accelerants in a house fire which will help to determine the cause of the fire. The team then attended two more incidents in Newton Heath and Failsworth, again Cracker was successful and had two ‘finds’ at the incident in Failsworth. Since March our dog unit has attended 30 incidents with 11 confirmed ’finds’ of accelerants.
As for Echo, he was involved in the national assessments that were held in Manchester at the weekend. The National USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) dog team were assessing a dog from Hampshire Fire Service. I was one of the three assessors but unfortunately the dog failed on one of the challenges – a search of an open area at night. After two years of training it was particularly disappointing for the handler but they will get another chance to try again later in the year.
17th – 23rd September – Echo enjoys some searching practice...
The last week has been uneventful for the dog team with no call outs to mention, however I did carry out some USAR training with Echo. I enrolled the help of my dad to act as a ‘body’ to search for on open land. Echo did really well and found him in no time at all.
Cracker10th - 16th September - A quiet week but Cracker gets new boots...
It has been a quiet week for the dog team so Cracker and Echo underwent some training. We also had a few work placements with us so we had the opportunity to show them the life of a dog handler in the Fire Service. I also took delivery of Cracker's new boots - they are really impressive and will help to protect her feet when she is searching through buildings that contain broken glass. Revisit this page soon to see the photographs of Cracker trying out her new boots on a fire investigation job.
3rd – 9th September – Cracker and Echo wow the crowds at an open day…
The dog team went to the open day at the Fire Service College this week and proved to be a big draw. Cracker and her fire investigation skills attracted a lot of interest from Fire Officers from Canada and Europe. We also took up the opportunity to undertake some training in the evening whilst at the college and it all went well. The past week has also seen Cracker in action on a couple of fire investigation jobs.
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