Western Standard - November 06, 2025


GOOD BOY!： Mighty canine Titus joins Calgary fire department as new arson detection dog


Episode Stats


Length

6 minutes

Words per minute

177.75249

Word count

1,093

Sentence count

110


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this episode of the Fire Family, we are joined by Fire Dog, Titus. He is a dog that has been with us for over 10 years and has been a part of our Fire Family for the past 5 years.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 So, I mean, the number of fires in Calgary that seems to increase earlier, we definitely see the impact of the community.
00:00:06.000 Yeah, there's a variety of reasons why those fires start.
00:00:09.000 There's many different causes and many different sources.
00:00:12.000 Our investigation through works closely to ensure that we're able to capture the origin cause of all the investigating fires within the city of Calgary.
00:00:20.000 Unfortunately, sometimes those fires do have arson connection or criminal connection as well,
00:00:29.000 and they're supposed to become a pre-service arson unit.
00:00:32.000 So, I guess it's very important to determine the call for it to make sure that we are fully aware of the start of fires
00:00:38.000 and taking appropriate actions to follow that with that.
00:00:43.000 How long does it take to train a dog or medical?
00:00:48.000 Exactly.
00:00:50.000 So, Titus came to us from the States and he started training when he was eight weeks old.
00:00:56.000 So, they basically, they imprint him so that he's on the reward base.
00:01:00.000 As soon as he gets, he had a preference, he rewarded on that.
00:01:04.000 So, we got him in March.
00:01:06.000 So, like a year and a half, he's basically training.
00:01:08.000 So, they have to, Titus is unique because he's a very agile dog.
00:01:13.000 He has a strong prey drive.
00:01:15.000 He's comfortable around a large amount of people, a large amount of animals, things.
00:01:22.000 We have no idea what kind of circumstances they're taking Titus into.
00:01:26.000 So, he has to be comfortable with that.
00:01:28.000 So, there's a lot of training that was gone before we even got him.
00:01:31.000 So, it's probably a year and a half.
00:01:33.000 And then the training is ongoing.
00:01:35.000 So, the training doesn't stop there.
00:01:37.000 Titus said I basically train every day.
00:01:39.000 So, we train every day.
00:01:41.000 He gets, the vast bulk of his food that he eats is through reward base.
00:01:46.000 So, he's sniffing and he's finding hydrocarbons.
00:01:49.000 We are annually certified through CADA, which is Canine Accelerant Protection Association.
00:01:56.000 They're a national association that basically certifies bodies.
00:02:01.000 So, we do a test every year to maintain our level of certification to them.
00:02:06.000 Do you think there are a dog that is better than others?
00:02:09.000 I mean, most dogs are kids sniffers.
00:02:12.000 I mean, is there a particular breed of dog that is better than others?
00:02:16.000 Yeah.
00:02:17.000 So, the ultimate would be the blood health.
00:02:19.000 But, then we lose the agility we use.
00:02:22.000 So, there's trade-offs.
00:02:24.000 So, the American field lab they've determined is like one of the best for hard use in the fire department.
00:02:30.000 Is there any number of calls that you've got that is too much in a day?
00:02:37.000 Do you recall those days?
00:02:39.000 Yeah.
00:02:40.000 So, Titus is pretty, the time that Titus can spend in a scene,
00:02:46.000 whereas these investigators could spend literally hours, like long periods of time,
00:02:51.000 even days in a scene.
00:02:53.000 Basically, when a scene happens, my job is, of course, safety is carried on.
00:02:57.000 So, I go in, look at the scene, ensure that all the hazards are, that we don't have anything that's going to be either hurt him or him.
00:03:04.000 So, whether that, and if I give him anything dangerous, we don't have to do that.
00:03:08.000 But, he's actually fairly quick.
00:03:10.000 As you see him move around and do this.
00:03:12.000 So, he's very quick.
00:03:13.000 So, in a large area like this, it can take us ten minutes and be done.
00:03:17.000 So, we're not, he doesn't spend a lot of time.
00:03:19.000 So, he could, physically, I wouldn't have the time to be like five in a day.
00:03:24.000 But, we could easily, if it was just him, that would be no problem.
00:03:29.000 So, he can find, like, an ignition, like, you do right now at the start of the fire.
00:03:33.000 So, specific to ignitable liquid residue.
00:03:40.000 So, that's what he's finding for us.
00:03:42.000 So, after a fire happens.
00:03:44.000 So, fire changes everything off gases.
00:03:48.000 And then, there's people, think about it, but there's always a residue.
00:03:52.000 So, he's just hypersensitive to those residue, to those different types of hydrocarbons, be light, medium and heavy.
00:03:58.000 And then, he tells us that area.
00:04:00.000 So, then, as an investigator, that helps us.
00:04:03.000 And, we can determine the area of origin.
00:04:06.000 And then, maybe, what caused it.
00:04:09.000 Are there any cases in recent memory we can kind of relate to Titus really helping out that we can think of?
00:04:16.000 Yeah, the one thing that I can say is, unfortunately, fortunately or unfortunately,
00:04:22.000 the majority of stuff that Titus and I work with has criminal association to it.
00:04:28.000 So, we can't really divulge a lot of information on that side because it's just, there are ongoing proceedings in these things.
00:04:35.000 But, it is super effective.
00:04:37.000 It's an amazing team member.
00:04:38.000 He helps us out every day.
00:04:40.000 We actually have physical machinery that detects hydrocarbons.
00:04:46.000 But, they're just extremely painful.
00:04:48.000 Like, you have to let it warm up for 45 seconds.
00:04:52.000 You have to set, like, a setting on it.
00:04:55.000 It has to hover over an area for, like, 45 to 60 seconds.
00:05:00.000 About an inch above.
00:05:01.000 So, how long are you going to look in this area hovering a machine, like, an inch above where you suspect?
00:05:07.000 So, it's, yeah.
00:05:09.000 The canine is just way above that.
00:05:11.000 It's just amazing.
00:05:12.000 Amazing.
00:05:13.000 The next, how this comes from.
00:05:14.000 What are you doing, bud?
00:05:15.000 Part of the job, I guess.
00:05:16.000 Hello.
00:05:17.000 Hi.
00:05:18.000 How's it going?
00:05:19.000 Oh, yeah.
00:05:20.000 Yeah, it's awesome.
00:05:21.000 I felt...
00:05:22.000 Hello.
00:05:23.000 How's it going?
00:05:24.000 Yeah.
00:05:25.000 Isn't it nice?
00:05:26.000 Do you get the dog reach in your pocket?
00:05:27.000 I probably do, somewhere.
00:05:28.000 I don't know.
00:05:29.000 I don't know.
00:05:30.000 I don't know.
00:05:31.000 I don't know.
00:05:32.000 I don't know.
00:05:33.000 I don't know.
00:05:34.000 I don't know.
00:05:35.000 I don't know.
00:05:36.000 I don't know.
00:05:37.000 I don't know.
00:05:38.000 I don't know.
00:05:39.000 I don't know.
00:05:40.000 exactly what happened.
00:05:41.000 I don't know if I heard that.
00:05:42.000 It goes across.
00:05:43.000 A position where it has been.
00:05:45.000 I don't know if I just ahead of us,
00:05:47.000 you will.
00:05:48.000 It's just, I know it seems crazy.
00:05:49.000 Could I speak back in my pocket?
00:05:50.000 I can say, I don't know if I had it.
00:05:53.000 It's just yourself as hell, it would be.
00:05:54.000 I don't know, it'd really think,
00:05:55.000 that's great.
00:05:56.000 You know, yeah?
00:05:57.000 And it's amazing, they're such a good one,
00:05:58.000 or probably, I don't know.
00:05:59.000 It's really cool though.
00:06:00.000 I don't know.
00:06:01.000 I was coaching now, but it's more to be.
00:06:05.040 I'm going to be doing a lot of times.
00:06:06.040 I'm gonna try to cook it and tell you what it is.
00:06:08.240 top of it.