In September 1996 the West Midlands Fire Service became the first Fire Service in the UK to utilise a dog to assist with fire investigation. They have maintained at least one dog team within this role since this date.

The current Fire Investigation Dog Team, consists of Ellie (sponsored by Marks and Spencer), a black Springador (Labrador/Springer Spaniel cross) born in November 2002 and new recruit Peppa, a German Shorthaired Pointer born in December 2008. She is the first German Shorthaired Pointer to be selected for Fire Investigation work. Both dogs are handled by Mat Dixon.

Mat and Ellie were trained by SCS International, and following examinations and assessment at the end of the intensive course became operational in October 2005. They are now annually certified at the Fire Service College, Moreton-In-Marsh.

Mat comes from an animal orientated background with a lifelong interest in training and handling dogs and will be responsible for the training of Peppa.

Ellie is from working stock and was originally a working gundog before being selected for fire investigation work. Peppa comes from true dual purpose stock with both parents being successful in both the show ring and the field. It is hoped that her training will go to plan and she will be certified and working alongside Ellie before too long. At the moment she is busy being a puppy and keeping both Mat and Ellie on their toes.

Ellie is utilised mostly at cold fire scenes (once the fire has been extinguished) to search for traces of flammable liquid that may be an indication of arson. In addition she is called upon to search suspects and victims clothing, properties, vehicles etc. She will detect the 12 most commonly used flammable liquids ranging from lighter fluid to diesel.

When searching she wears protective equipment including a harness, and boots to protect her feet. She will use her nose to pick up on the vapour coming from the flammable liquid, she follows this vapour to its source and will then give a ‘passive’ indication whereby she will hold her nose on the exact location of the flammable liquid, thus enabling Mat to accurately identify the area from which a sample needs to be taken to enable laboratory analysis to identify the substance being ‘indicated’ on.

Ellie plays a vital educational role, the aim of which is to deter arsonists from committing offences, and facilitate the detection of those who have offended by attending, and lecturing to various institutions including Universities, Police Training Centres, Schools, Country Shows etc, on the work and capabilities of the Fire Investigation Dog Teams. The canine element of fire investigation has resulted in Ellie appearing on several television programmes and in numerous publications, thus increasing the visual presence of Fire Investigation.

Although employed by the West Midlands Fire Service Mat and Ellie provide cover for the East Midlands area when their dogs are unavailable, in addition to providing regional cover for Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester, and Warwickshire, who do not have their own dog teams.

Both dogs live with Mat and his family and as such they have a great working relationship with Mat.

Mat can interpret Ellies behaviour and as such is able to identify areas where traces of flammable liquid may be present and which require further investigation even if Ellie cannot directly access the source, for example if the source is buried beneath debris.

Ellie loves her ‘work’ as all her training revolves around praise, and rewards in the form of her favourite thing in the World; tennis balls. Peppa is rapidly developing a similar love for tennis balls and is proving to be a highly intelligent and biddable student.