TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Topeka Fire Department (TFD) celebrated its four-legged friend Skye at Fire Station 4 for National Fire Pup Day.
Skye is a six-and-a-half-year-old labrador retriever. He is trained to detect ignitable liquids that can be used to set fires. After 12 weeks of training, Skye was certified.
Six of the 12 weeks were spent learning the odors by himself, and the other six were spent working with his handler, fire investigator Brad Hanika, as a team.
“So, what Skye is, is kind of like a cheat code,” Hanika said. “When we put him into a fire scene, he basically points out the best area that we’re going to have success in actually collecting a physical sample that a laboratory can test positive.”
Skye is the only working fire dog in Topeka.
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