Ohio Department of Commerce Division of the State Fire Marshal Swears in New Member

ZANESVILLE, OH – The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of the State Fire Marshal recently swore in a new member to their investigative team.

Karl, the two-year-old yellow lab, was sworn in at the State Fire Marshal’s Campus in Reynoldsburg. He’s joining the Fire and Explosion Investigations Bureau where he was trained to detect a wide variety of explosive materials like fireworks, firearms, and shell casings.

Richard Sluder, the Chief Deputy with the State Fire Marshal, said it’s important to have pups like Karl because they can help out with larger investigations.

“It’s important to us because they’re a large part of our investigatory process on fire scenes,” Sluder said. “As far as finding the explosive detection and anything that we would have at some of our fire scenes.”

Karl’s path to becoming an Explosive Detection K-9 actually began with the Pilot Program in Columbus where he was originally trained to assist people with vision impairments. His energy levels unfortunately made him ill fitted for that role but his ability to detect things was immediately noticed and he was given a second chance.

“They play a very important role just because of their ability to detect the different scents or the different odors,” Sluder said. “Then the items we’re looking for, far superior to what any type of computer analyzation can initially find. So they’re the initial hit, they’re the initial that says there’s something not right here, and that allows our scientific process to narrow in on what’s going on.”

Karl now joins the ranks with one other Explosive Detection K-9 as well as several other Accelerant K-9’s to provide threat detection and investigative support statewide.