There's a new top dog in town, one that can sniff out fires.
Sadie, a 16 month old is the newest partner of the arson investigation team in Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan.
Sadie is able to sniff out accelerants if investigators rule a fire as arson. Anita Shultz won a $25,000 scholarship to become Sadie's handler. The program is sponsored by State Farm.
“Up until now we have had to wait hours for an accelerant dog to come on the scene,” says the Operations Chief of Southwest Central Fire Territory Anita Shultz. “I know they called for one when Francesca's in Mishawaka burned and they had to wait at least two hours for that team to come.”
Only 10 teams are trained a year, and there are a little over 200 of them in the United States and Canada. Only nine of the team handlers are women.
